Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
Environmentalists are trading purity for pragmatism in 2014
WASHINGTON POST
Philip Bump
What Steyer and NextGen are doing in Iowa is being pragmatic. In 2006, leading environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council backed corn ethanol use, because plants consume carbon dioxide and biofuels burn more cleanly than oil. By 2011, its position had changed, in part because better biofuels exist. So why is NextGen blasting Ernst for turning her back on ethanol? Because it’s pragmatic. If Iowans vote for Democrat Bruce Braley over Ernst because they want to sell more corn, good enough for NextGen. If Iowans vote for Braley over Ernst because they are worried about her selling her soul to a shadowy cabal, good enough for NextGen. If Braley wins over Ernst even though his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, a key priority for greens and Steyer, is soft? Good enough.
How Will Latino Voters Change the Global Warming Fight?
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Clare Foran
An analysis of nine polls tracking Hispanic voter preference released Wednesday shows that Hispanics are increasingly anxious about global warming and environmental conservation. That could put Latinos at odds with Republican lawmakers in Congress who deny man-made global warming and denounce President Obama’s plan to cut air pollution from power plants.
McConnell Promises Spending Standoff Over Obama’s Green Agenda
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman
If Republicans take back the Senate next session, Sen. Mitch McConnell is promising his party will use budget bills to attack President Obama’s policies—and he’s specifically calling out the president’s environmental agenda.
Australia’s Retreat on Emissions
NEW YORK TIMES
Editorial
At a time when President Obama is seeking emissions limits on new and existing power plants, and when many scientists are arguing for major reductions in fossil-fuel use by 2050 to keep global warming within manageable limits, Australia — among the world’s highest emitters per capita of carbon dioxide — has chosen to become an outlier.
Alaska Oil Tax Repeal Measure Losing
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Reid J. Epstein and Zusha Elinson
An Alaska ballot measure to repeal a 2013 oil tax law that drastically cut the amount major oil companies in the state appeared headed for defeat. The referendum was losing by a 52.2% to 47.8% margin, with all but six of the state’s 441 precincts reporting results by Wednesday morning, but it was still too close to call, according to the Associated Press.
Energy-Rich U.S. States Saw Fastest Economic Growth in Late 2013
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ben Leubsdorf
U.S. economic growth accelerated in the second half of 2013 before unexpectedly contracting early this year. But growth late last year was uneven across the nation, with some energy-rich states leading the pack while economies slowed in New England and on the Plains.
Technology
Plouffe for Free Markets
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
“Uber has the chance to be a once in a decade if not a once in a generation company,” Mr. Plouffe said in a statement. “Of course, that poses a threat to some, and I’ve watched as the taxi industry cartel has tried to stand in the way of technology and big change. Ultimately, that approach is unwinnable.” We couldn’t have said it better, and it’s nice to see the man who elected the most anti-free-market President since Richard Nixon extol the wonders of business competition.
The Battle Over Government-Run Internet Heats Up at FCC
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Brendan Sasso
If Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler wants to stop states from blocking city-run broadband, he’ll likely have to override Republican opposition to do it. In a speech Wednesday, a top Republican FCC aide argued that the agency lacks the authority to overturn state laws on the issue.
Yes, patent trolls go out of their way to target rich companies
WASHINGTON POST
Brian Fung
Using data compiled from court records dating back to 1977, researchers at Harvard University and the University of Texas studied lawsuits from over 4,000 NPEs. The full dataset amounts to nearly 12,000 cases, but the researchers concentrated on the roughly 3,600 in more recent years that affected publicly traded companies. “They target firms opportunistically,” the researchers wrote. “Not on the merits of the case but rather on the ease of extracting rents.”
Antivirus Works Too Well, Gripe Cybercops
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Danny Yadron
Law enforcement’s battle against Symantec Corp.’s Norton, Intel Corp.’s McAfee brands and others gained new attention this month after anonymous activists published documents from FinFisher GmbH, a secretive German firm that sells computer code to help governments snoop on targets. Amid customer names and secret price lists, the cache exposed complaints from authorities that antivirus programs had thwarted their planned surveillance. The unusual arms race offers new detail on the extent to which governments rely on computer-security holes to snoop.
Shopping Made Psychic
NEW YORK TIMES
Cass R. Sunstein
On the basis of this evidence, here’s a prediction of my own: In the coming decades, we are going to see much more in the way of predictive shopping, and a lot of people are going to be enthusiastic about it.
Finance
Bank of America’s $17 billion penalty is arguably too little, definitely too late
VOX
Danielle Kurtzleben
Bank of America has reached a $17 billion settlement with the Justice Department as a settlement in an investigation into the sale of toxic financial products in the run-up to the financial crisis, the Associated Press reports. … “Think of the message it sends,” says James Angel, professor of finance at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. “Let’s say you’re a sleazy bond trader and you can’t think beyond this year’s bonus, and you kind of look the other way at some of the dodgy stuff your department might be selling, and six years from now your employer pays the penalty. Is that going to deter you from doing anything bad?”
Fed Dissenters Increasingly Vocal About Inflation Fears
NEW YORK TIMES
Binyamin Appelbaum
An increasingly vocal minority of Federal Reserve officials want the central bank to retreat more quickly from its stimulus campaign, arguing that the bank has largely exhausted its ability to improve economic conditions.
Fed to give clearer signal on rates rise
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Michael Mackenzie and Gina Chon
The Federal Reserve will provide greater details about the normalisation of monetary policy well before interest rates rise, according to the minutes of its July meeting that also show officials debating the strength of the US jobs market.
Stop Depending on the Fed
POLITICO
R. Glenn Hubbard
The bottom line is this: We are asking too much of the Fed and not enough of our elected officials. There is no reason the actions suggested here should not acquire bipartisan support. The president should submit plans to Congress for removing barriers to growth, enhancing demand and supporting work. If he does not, perhaps a new Congress can place them on his desk for signature.
Market Chilly to Argentine Debt Proposal
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Nicole Hong, Ken Parks and Taos Turner
Argentina’s options are dwindling after its latest proposal to exit default by sidestepping a U.S. court order met with skepticism in financial markets on Wednesday. Argentine bond prices slipped and the black-market peso tumbled to a record low against the dollar the day after President Cristina Kirchner proposed that investors holding defaulted bonds swap them for new debt governed by Argentine law.
Politics
So What Will You Do, Mr. President?
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
Mr. Obama must get over his political fixation on ending Mr. Bush’s wars and admit that his country must fight again in Iraq. America already is at war again fighting ISIS in Iraq. Mr. President, we share your disgust for James Foley’s killers. What we need to know is whether you are willing to do what it takes to defeat these enemies of America and a civilized world.
Billionaires silent after big splash
POLITICO
Anna Palmer
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Citigroup exec Carlos Gutierrez gave immigration reform firepower last year, when they lent their money or names to the cause. But roughly two months before Election Day, the three groups the business titans helped launch are all but silent on the campaign trail. None of the three have purchased airtime for ads on immigration reform this fall.
Election Uncertainty Complicates Budget Decisions
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Billy House
Some House Republicans—hopeful their party will take over the Senate majority—are now privately hedging on whether they should go along in September with passage of a continuing resolution that would expire in December, rather than some later date in 2015. If pushed into next year, the GOP then might control both chambers and Democrats would have less leverage in passing a new budget bill.
Battle for Senate Control Puts a Spotlight on Alaska
NEW YORK TIMES
Kirk Johnson
Alaskans are braced for a continued barrage of television ads between now and Election Day in November, bashing or burnishing the reputations of the two men seeking to win Alaska’s potentially pivotal, nationally watched Senate race.
Supreme Court Delays Gay Marriage in Virginia, a Day Before It Was Set to Begin
NEW YORK TIMES
Alan Rappeport
The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a last-minute order delaying same-sex marriages in Virginia, less than a day before officials there were to begin providing marriage licenses to gay couples. … The stay was outlined in a one-page document and provided no clues about the court’s intentions.
FedEx’s ‘Money Laundering’ Scheme
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
The Justice Department has added three charges of money laundering to last month’s dubious indictment of FedEx for drug trafficking. Maybe government prosecutors figure by the rules of probability that the more implausible allegations they make, the greater the odds that one will stick.
Ford worker challenges UAW union dues
DETROIT FREE PRESS
Alisa Priddle
A Ford worker has filed charges against the UAW and the automaker seeking a partial refund of his union dues. Todd Lemire, a tool-and-die maker in Dearborn for 16 years, filed charges last week with the National Labor Relations Board.
