Your daily briefing for all the top news in Energy, Technology, Finance, and Politics.
Energy
U.S. sees 38% jump in global oil use by 2040
USA TODAY
Wendy Koch
Despite upcoming climate talks to curb heat-trapping carbon emissions, the U.S. government said Tuesday that global use of oil and other liquid fuels will jump 38% by 2040. World consumption is projected to grow from 87 million barrels per day in 2010 to 119 million barrels in 2040 – up 4% from last year’s forecast, according to the International Energy Outlook 2014 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Bell-Bottom Blues: Think Tank Charges Policymakers With Replaying That 70s Show on Oil Exports
NATIONAL JOURNAL
Ben Geman
But a report released Tuesday by a pair of Brookings Institution scholars says that when it comes to perceptions of oil markets and energy security, the public and some policymakers are stuck in the 1970s and the energy tumult that followed. It makes the case that amid surging U.S. production, lifting the country’s decades-old ban on crude-oil exports would boost the economy, reduce unemployment, and lower gasoline prices somewhat. But realizing those benefits will require the public and policymakers to move past old beliefs about the oil market that date to the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s that ushered in the current restrictions.
Former Obama Economic Adviser Larry Summers Calls To Lift Oil-Export Ban
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Amy Harder
“Permitting the exports of oil will actually reduce the price of gasoline,” said Larry Summers, who was the director of the White House’s National Economic Council for the first two years of Mr. Obama’s presidency, in a speech at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday. Mr. Summers’ speech, more than 40 minutes, touched on his positions on climate change, which he says is a “profoundly important problem” but wouldn’t be influenced by oil exports; the Keystone XL pipeline, which he cautiously backed; and a host of economic and geopolitical arguments for why his former boss should unilaterally allow oil exports if Congress won’t act.
Long supply chain keeps oil industry pumping
FUEL FIX
Jennifer A. Dlouhy
America’s energy renaissance isn’t brought to you by Big Oil. That’s the message the American Petroleum Institute sent Tuesday, as it released a report documenting the nearly 30,000 businesses across the nation that supply the oil and gas industry with equipment and services.
Fossil Fuels Stir Debate at Endowments
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Dan Fitzpatrick
A nationwide showdown between activists and universities over investments in coal, oil and gas intensified Tuesday after a University of California task force abruptly pulled back a draft recommendation not to sell its fossil-fuel holdings.
Technology
FCC chairman: Sack the NFL’s blackout rule
USA TODAY
Tom Wheeler
The bottom line is the NFL no longer needs the government’s help to remain viable. And we at the FCC shouldn’t be complicit in preventing sports fans from watching their favorite teams on TV. It’s time to sack the sports blackout rules for good.
F.C.C. Chairman Says Wireless Broadband Could Get Stricter Oversight
NEW YORK TIMES
Edward Wyatt
The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission warned the wireless phone industry on Tuesday that the commission was seriously considering subjecting mobile carriers to the same net neutrality regulations as providers of wired Internet service.
Tech companies warn Web rules would be ‘extremely disruptive’
THE HILL
Julian Hattem
Nearly three dozen major technology manufacturers and suppliers are warning the Obama administration against tough new regulations on broadband Internet companies. Deciding to regulate broadband Internet service like a public utility would be “extremely disruptive” to the industry and could lead to worse service for everyone, the 33 companies wrote in a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. … Major firms like Cisco, IBM and Intel were among the companies that signed Tuesday’s letter.
How Wednesday’s ‘Internet Slowdown’ is supposed to work
WASHINGTON POST
Nancy Scola
First things first. Slowdown Day will not feature any actual slowing down of the Internet. The reason it won’t? The same reason why this is a fascinating moment in the history of Internet activism. Companies participating in the protest, like Vimeo, Etsy and reddit, have become the digital infrastructure of the Internet age. Slowing down their services is likely to anger their audiences (not to mention, in some cases, their shareholders). In other words, they’ve become essential — Too Big to Slow? — but that also gives them enormous power. They have the ability to draw millions upon millions of eyeballs to the spinning loading icon that will be featured on their sites.
The State Department’s plan to spark a global SOPA-style uprising around Internet governance
WASHINGTON POST
Nancy Scola
ICANN and the 150-year-old International Telecommunications Union, which has long acted as the traffic cop of global non-Internet telecommunications, might be headed to a crucial face-off next month. And so, the U.S. State Department, which wants ICANN to retain control of Internet governance, is making a bid to broaden the debate and engage an audience all over the world with a simple proclamation: “The Internet belongs to everyone.”
Turkey unveils legislation to tighten control over internet
FINANCIAL TIMES (Subscribe)
Daniel Dombrey
Turkey has pushed through new legislation that tightens government control over the internet – days after the country hosted the Internet Governance Forum, a high profile UN-backed gathering.
Home Depot breach reveals how challenging it is to ward off data theft
WASHINGTON POST
Sarah Halzack and Andrea Peterson
As Home Depot scrambles to determine the scope and scale of a potentially massive breach of its customers’ data, the retailer’s troubles underscore the challenges facing retailers and card issuers attempting to gird themselves against cybercriminals.
Privacy in spotlight as Apple unveils new products
POLITICOPRO (Subscribe)
Ashley Gold and Katy Bachman
A week after the nude celebrity photo hack, Apple launched new products focused on mobile payments and health and fitness with an underlying message: Trust us.
Finance
Lawmakers Press Regulators to Lessen Risks Banks Pose to Financial System
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ryan Tracy
The support for a big-bank regulatory crackdown was underscored at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday as lawmakers drew a distinction between large banks and other financial firms. Several senators pushed regulators to ease burdens on insurance companies and small and midsize banks while backing additional regulatory action to ensure the biggest banks aren’t “too big to fail.”
The Federal Reserve’s Too Cozy Relations With Banks
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Stephen Haber and Ross Levine
The problem is that while the Fed is largely independent of politicians, it is intimately connected, and even answerable, to the financial institutions that it is supposed to regulate. Consider the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Banks. Nine directors oversee each of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks. Private banks choose six of the nine. The other three are typically the CEOs of major corporations or executives at other financial institutions, such as private-equity firms. Fed presidents are also deeply tied to financial institutions. For example, the current president of the New York Fed (the most important of the Fed’s 12 regional banks) was at Goldman Sachs before taking over the Fed. His predecessor is now president of the private-equity firm Warburg Pincus; his predecessor went to Merrill Lynch after the Fed; and his predecessor is now at Goldman Sachs.
Rep. Maxine Waters proposes sweeping changes to credit reporting law
WASHINGTON POST
Danielle Douglas
The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee is proposing sweeping changes to a law that governs the way lenders report consumer payments to credit bureaus, a move that could help millions of Americans get better interest rates on mortgages, auto financing and student loans. … Chief among the changes are proposals to shorten the amount of time that black marks remain on a credit report from seven to four years, remove all settled debts from the report and erase private student loan defaults for borrowers once they make nine consecutive, on-time payments.
Inversion Debate Considers Tax Breaks
WALL STREET JOURNAL
John D. McKinnon
A top Senate Democrat, Charles Schumer, said on Tuesday that he will offer legislation to restrict inversions, and would agree to allow it to lapse after three years. That would give Democrats one of their top priorities while also giving Republicans leverage to force a full-scale tax-code overhaul—one of their top priorities—in 2017, the New York lawmaker said. Meanwhile, some lawmakers also are weighing the possibility of combining anti-inversion legislation with some significant tax breaks that Republicans want, such as a permanent tax credit for business research, according to people familiar with the situation. That could be combined with tax breaks that Democrats would like to make permanent, such as for college tuition.
House GOP Close to Reauthorizing Export-Import Bank
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Kristina Peterson and Michael R. Crittenden
Deferring an ideological fight over the Export-Import Bank, House Republican leaders will include a nine-month extension of the federal agency as part of a measure this week to keep the government running until mid-December.
Politics
Obama Ready to Authorize Airstrikes on ISIS in Syria
NEW YORK TIMES
Mark Landler and Jonathan Weisman
President Obama is prepared to authorize airstrikes in Syria, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, taking the military campaign against the Sunni militant group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, into new and unpredictable terrain.
Dick Cheney Is Still Right
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Editorial
We hope tonight’s speech shows a more realistic President determined to defeat Islamic State, but whatever he says will have to overcome the doubts about American resolve that he has spread around the world for nearly six years. One way to start undoing the damage would be to concede that Dick Cheney was right all along.
GOP seizes on Islamic State in midterms
POLITICO
Alex Isenstadt and Manu Raju
In campaigns across the country, Republicans are seizing on what they call the Obama administration’s feckless response to Islamic State militants as part of a broader case to voters to turn against Democrats in November. Their argument: Barack Obama is a disengaged figure whose power needs to be checked.
WSJ/NBC Poll: Almost Two-Thirds Back Attacking Militants
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Janet Hook and Carol E. Lee
Almost two-thirds of respondents in a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll believe it is in the nation’s interest to confront the group, known as ISIS and as ISIL, which has swept through Syria and northern Iraq. Only 13% said action wasn’t in the national interest. … Asked what type of military response was appropriate, some 40% of those polled said action against ISIS should be limited to airstrikes and an additional 34% were willing to use both airstrikes and commit U.S. ground troops—a remarkable mood swing for an electorate that just a year ago recoiled at Mr. Obama’s proposal to launch airstrikes against Syria.
G.O.P. Hopefuls, Light on Experience, Try to Build Foreign Credentials
NEW YORK TIMES
Jeremy W. Peters
As President Obama prepared his strategy for combating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which he will announce on Wednesday, there was no shortage of condemnation from Republicans like Mr. Paul, Mr. Cruz and Mr. Jindal, who are considering running for president in 2016. Yet they, like almost every Republican who might try to succeed Mr. Obama, have a common résumé gap: foreign policy experience.
Primaries in Northeast Set the Stage for the Fall
NEW YORK TIMES
Katharine Q. Seelye
In perhaps the biggest upset of the night, Seth Moulton, a newcomer to politics, toppled Representative John F. Tierney, a nine-term Democratic congressman from the North Shore of Boston. … In New Hampshire, Scott Brown coasted to victory in the Republican primary and officially claimed the right to challenge Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent.
