Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Democrats Increasingly Backing Oil and Gas Industry
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Amy Harder
The energy boom is shaping a new kind of Democrat in national politics, lawmakers who are giving greater support to the oil and gas industry even at the risk of alienating environmental groups, a core of the party’s base. The trend comes as oil-and-gas production moves beyond America’s traditionally energy-rich states, a development that also is increasing U.S. geopolitical influence abroad.
Oil giants sidestep sanctions, keep drilling with Russia
WASHINGTON TIMES
Patrice Hill
The West’s major oil companies have been seamlessly sidestepping sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and European Union, for the most part pressing full speed ahead on joint ventures to drill for oil and gas with sanctioned Russian companies and executives.
Kinder Morgan’s Reorganization Puts Master Limited Partnerships in Question
NEW YORK TIMES
David Gelles
But now, with Kinder Morgan restructuring as a traditional corporation, questions have emerged about what will happen to the many other master limited partnerships. If Kinder Morgan no longer wants to be one, does the structure still make sense for other companies? Adding to the sense of uncertainty was the Treasury Department, which said on Monday that it was examining whether the partnerships were depriving the government of needed tax revenue. Although the partnerships have mostly managed to fly under the radar, the renewed focus on the corporate tax code and its loopholes is putting the structure under new scrutiny.
Kinder Morgan Deal Risks Big Tax Bills for Investors
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Laura Saunders, Alison Sider and Russell Gold
Kinder Morgan Inc.’s $44 billion plan to consolidate its pipeline companies was greeted with excitement by Wall Street, which expects the new streamlined company to snap up other pipeline partnerships. But some investors in Kinder Morgan’s master limited partnerships may not be happy as the consolidation could leave them with big, unexpected tax bills, tax experts said.
Technology
Rural TV Channel Circles the Wagons
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Thomas Gryta
Close to half of the thousands of letters submitted to the Federal Communications Commission as it reviews Comcast Corp.’s proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc. and AT&T Inc. ‘s planned acquisition of DirecTV come from viewers of RFD-TV, a rural-focused channel owned by independent programmer Rural Media Group. Viewers express worry that the media and cable consolidation will be bad news for RFD-TV and its programs on horsemanship, grain prices and country music.
How Much Would You Pay to Watch NBC?
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Brendan Sasso
A proposal from two key senators would let you pick and choose which broadcast TV channels you want. So viewers who want to save some money on their monthly cable bill could drop Fox. Or NBC. Or any local over-the-air station. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic chairman of the Commerce Committee, and Sen. John Thune, the panel’s top Republican, unveiled the proposal Friday. … The Senate proposal would only let consumers unbundle broadcast stations—not cable channels like ESPN.
Comcast, Time Warner Cable help honor Mignon Clyburn amid merger review
POLITICO
Alex Byers
Comcast and Time Warner Cable are sponsoring a dinner honoring FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn at a time when the agency is weighing whether to approve a multibillion-dollar merger between the two companies. … There are no rules preventing businesses from helping to honor regulators in this way, and both companies say they have supported the foundation for years.
Internet providers want Congress to keep hands off online traffic deals
THE HILL
Kate Tummarello
Internet providers and wireless companies are warning lawmakers not to get overly involved in deals over online traffic. In comments filed to the House Energy and Commerce Committee this month, USTelecom — which represents Internet providers — said lawmakers and regulators should stay out of “interconnection” deals, the arrangements Internet providers make with each other and websites to handle online traffic.
Republicans say FCC ‘marred by bad process’
THE HILL
Kate Tummarello
Republicans at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and on Capitol Hill are calling on the agency to be more transparent and allow for greater public interaction.
White House launches digital team for online upgrades
WASHINGTON POST
Juliet Eilperin and and Nancy Scola
The White House launched an initiative Monday aimed at improving the federal government’s digital operations, installing the federal contractor who helped salvage HealthCare.gov to head the venture. Mikey Dickerson, who worked on site reliability at Google for 8 1/2 years before taking leave in October to help repair the botched online health insurance marketplace, will become the U.S. Digital Service’s first administrator.
Finance
The Fed’s Systemic-Risk Balancing Act
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Martin Feldstein and Robert Rubin
Weak labor markets are and should be a deep concern and a pressing issue. But the Fed should also take into consideration the possibility of excesses brought on by low interest rates that could create financial crises. In making interest-rate decisions, the Fed should have a realistic view of the broad range of the existing systemic risks and of the limits of the government’s currently extant macroprudential tools. The stress in these interest-rate decisions is heightened by the political system’s failure to act on our nation’s broader policy challenges, increasing the pressure on monetary policy, despite the limits on what it can do and the risks its expanded use can pose.
Financial reform report card
USA TODAY
With the sixth anniversary of the worst of the financial crisis approaching, here’s a report card on how well — or poorly — key areas have been addressed. …
Money markets: A
Consumer protection: A
‘Too big to fail’: C
Credit rating agencies: D
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: F
U.S. Bank Profits Near Record Levels
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Robin Sidel and Saabira Chaudhuri
Banks are lending to companies and individuals at the fastest pace since the financial crisis, helping propel profits to near-record levels. U.S. banks posted $40.24 billion in net income during the second quarter, the industry’s second-highest profit total in at least 23 years, according to data from research firm SNL Financial. The latest profits are just below the record $40.36 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2013. The rebound comes even as bank executives say rising costs of regulation are hurting their businesses.
US Fed’s Fischer warns of poor growth
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Gina Chon
The Federal Reserve’s vice-chairman has pointed to weak labour force participation and a soft US housing recovery as two reasons for disappointing global growth, saying this could be a long-term phenomenon.
New York Prosecutors Charge Payday Lenders With Usury
NEW YORK TIMES
Jessica Silver-Greenberg
A trail of money that began with triple-digit loans to troubled New Yorkers and wound through companies owned by a former used-car salesman in Tennessee led New York prosecutors on a yearlong hunt through the shadowy world of payday lending. On Monday, that investigation culminated with state prosecutors in Manhattan bringing criminal charges against a dozen companies and their owner, Carey Vaughn Brown, accusing them of enabling payday loans that flouted the state’s limits on interest rates in loans to New Yorkers.
Under SEC Questioning, Jokes and Jitters
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Jean Eaglesham
Former American International Group Inc. executive Joseph Cassano cited his Fifth Amendment right to avoid incriminating himself more than 200 times while declining to answer questions posed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2009. Mr. Cassano’s refusal to answer questions is among the disclosures included in 12 transcripts released by the SEC in response to public-records requests from The Wall Street Journal. The transcripts, comprising hundreds of pages, were from interviews conducted under oath related to two high-profile probes from the financial crisis.
U.S. Finds Fresh Use for Seldom-Used Statute in Subprime Cases
NEW YORK TIMES
Peter J. Henning
Like a child with a new toy, the Justice Department is using a powerful civil fraud provision to investigate potential wrongdoing in the marketing of securities backed by risky auto loans. This opens up a new front for the government to pursue large monetary penalties against companies that package loans made without paying too much attention to whether the borrowers are credit worthy.
Politics
Obamas recall ‘one-of-a-kind’ Robin Williams
POLITICO
Lucy McCalmont
“Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan, and everything in between. But he was one of a kind,” Obama said in a statement.
Obama’s revolving door
POLITICO
Byron Tau
Barack Obama promised to take on Washington’s revolving door culture. Washington won. A POLITICO review shows that the Obama administration has hired about 70 previously registered corporate, trade association and for-hire lobbyists. And many of these former lobbyists work at the highest levels of government.
Obama vacations as the world burns
WASHINGTON POST
Dana Milbank
It’s understandable that Obama would want to get away from it all, but for a president struggling to build support for his foreign policy, vacationing during a crisis is no day at the beach. White House press secretary Josh Earnest reminded reporters Friday that Obama was traveling to the Vineyard “with an array of communications” and advisers. But when it came time for the president to speak, there was a 20-minute delay because the TV feed didn’t work, and when he finally spoke, the audio and video quality was poor. … Criticism from Clinton. War with the Islamic State. Trouble with Maliki. It’s enough to make a man hook his drive into the sand trap.
The Third Iraq War
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The main obstacle to doing all, or even any, of this is less in Baghdad than in Washington. Mr. Obama and most Democrats are so invested in their claim to have ended George W. Bush’s Iraq war that they want to do only what is necessary to prevent a disaster like a rout of the Kurds. This is the thinking that produced the blunder of total U.S. withdrawal in 2011 and that ignored ISIS’s advances this year. It will not defeat ISIS now.
Clinton, Obama and Iraq
NEW YORK TIMES
David Brooks
Obama and Clinton represent different Democratic tendencies. In their descriptions of the current situation in Iraq, Clinton emphasizes that there cannot be inclusive politics unless the caliphate is seriously pushed back, while Obama argues that we will be unable to push back the caliphate unless the Iraqis themselves create inclusive politics. The Clinton language points toward some sort of intervention. Obama’s points away from it, though he may be forced by events into being more involved.
Iraq Needs a New Prime Minister
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
Nuri Kamal al-Maliki emerged from relative obscurity in 2006 when he was elected prime minister of the first government in Iraq formed after a period of caretaker rule. The best service he could perform now for his country would be to return to that obscurity as soon and as peacefully as possible.
Can the G.O.P. Ever Attract Black Voters?
NEW YORK TIMES
Jelani Cobb
An honest appeal to African-Americans would start with the admission that Republicans didn’t lose the black vote but forfeited it. The Republican Party now faces the same dilemma as the mid-20th-century Democratic Party: whether its interest in black voters might ever outweigh its investment in the reactionary politics of race.
It’s Not Too Late for Republicans to Win Latino Votes
NEW YORK TIMES
Lynn Vavreck
The Republican Party can compete with Democrats for the votes of Latinos, even young Latinos, without alienating the majority of its voters. But to earn support from this fast-growing segment of the American population, these survey results suggest the party is going to need leaders and candidates strong enough to stand up to the few who have hijacked its policy on immigration.
ObamaCare premiums slated to rise by an average of 7.5 percent
THE HILL
Elise Viebeck
Premiums on ObamaCare’s health insurance exchanges will rise by an average of 7.5 percent next year, according to a new analysis. Data compiled by the Health Research Institute (HRI) at PricewaterhouseCoopers found modest changes in premiums for 27 states and the District of Columbia, with the increases mostly falling short of dire predictions for ObamaCare’s second year.
