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LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 49

Despite Senate Deal On Fast Track, Pelosi Skeptical About Passage In House

The Senate may have struck a deal that gets President Obama one step closer to securing fast track Trade Promotion Authority, however the administration still has a lot of work to do to cajole skeptical Democrats in the House. And they’ll have to start at the top. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday compared TPA to a “get-out-of-jail-free” card that applies not just to President Obama and the Trans Pacific Partnership, but to the next president and whatever trade agenda she or he… Keep Reading

After a Huge “Screw Up” First Time Around, Shell Gains Approval For Second Round of Arctic Drilling

A major oil company has received permission from the Obama administration to begin drilling for oil in remote and dangerous waters off Alaska, just three years after the company’s first incursion into the Arctic ended in disaster and allegations of corporate neglect. The move by the White House on Monday to grant conditional approval to Shell Gulf of Mexico to resume drilling operations in the Chuckchi Sea off Alaska elicited a sharp rebuke from environmentalists, who accused the administration of rushing to green light “risky… Keep Reading

Iraq War Architects, Warning “Prestige, Influence and Leadership Are On The Line,” Urge Passage of T.P.P.

Former Pentagon chiefs, top spooks, and key architects of the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq urged Congress on Thursday to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), saying the deal has “tremendous strategic benefits.” David Petraeus, Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Leon Panetta joined 13 other retired military leaders in signing on to a letter to Congressional leaders, which declared the potential failure of the TPP to have “harmful strategic consequences.” “TPP in particular will shape an economic dynamic over the next several decades that… Keep Reading

Occupy…Ourselves? Federal Reserve Chair Cites Research Bashing Financialization and Rent Seeking

Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen donned something of a critical theorist’s cap on Wednesday, citing research that laments financialization and the subsequent “’rent seeking’ activity that may promote inefficiency” it allegedly caused. “Recent research has raised important questions about the benefits and costs of the rapid growth of the financial services industry in the United States over the past 40 years,” Yellen noted at a gathering sponsored by the Institute for New Economic Thinking in Washington. According to her prepared remarks, on “Finance and Society,” Yellen… Keep Reading

Obama Keeps Bomb Trains On Tracks For Five More Years

New Department of Transportation rules aimed at preventing accidents involving oil-carrying trains are too weak, and won’t be implemented until too late, according to lawmakers and public interest groups keenly focused on the issue. Calling it a “significant improvement over the current regulations,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx publicly issued the rule on Friday. The edict will affect rail transporters of flammable fossil fuels, most of which currently originates from North Dakota and Montana, in the form of Bakken crude. Noting, however, that most of the… Keep Reading

Sanders’ Presidential Debate Plea Shrugged Off By Pelosi

Knowing he will probably be outgunned in the fundraising battle, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) kicked off his presidential bid on Thursday by asking for the upcoming campaign to be settled in debates–venues where the Independent from Vermont feels more comfortable against the Clinton campaign machine. “What elections are about are serious debates over serious issues. Not political gossip,” the democratic socialist said, speaking from a podium outside the US Capitol—an image that presented a stark contrast from the branded and well-choreographed presidential announcements of those… Keep Reading

FDIC “Problem List” Shows Lingering Woes In Banking Industry

Federal Reserve Gov. Daniel Tarullo warned Thursday that a key regulator’s gauge of banking industry soundness shows systemic woes still well above normal levels, almost seven years after last decade’s spectacular global financial collapse. Tarullo noted that the number of banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s “Problem List” was “still nearly three times the historical average” at the end of 2014, though the list has diminished to 291 entries from a post-collapse peak of 888 at the start of 2011. The high-ranking Fed official made the… Keep Reading

Congressman Goes on Anti-T.P.P. Tirade in Slick New Video

In a new web-video intended to stir up opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership and other free trade deals under negotiation behind closed doors by the Obama Administration, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) called trade promotion authority being worked on in Congress a “fast track to hell.” The well-produced, nine minute video released on Thursday morning features Rep. Grayson connecting the economic plight facing many middle class Americans, and the staggering loss of a national manufacturing base, to liberalized trade deals going all the back to… Keep Reading

Amid Obama Push for T.P.P., Report Shows Trade Hindering Growth In Four of Last Five Quarters

The continued imbalance between imports and exports pushed down Gross Domestic Product growth by 1.25 percentage points in the first quarter, according to data released Wednesday morning at an awkward time for a President seeking to advance a sweeping trade agenda. The economy grew well below most expectations, at a 0.2 percent annualized rate in the first three months of this year, according to the estimate, with the Bureau of Economic Analysis report indicating that the trade deficit is partially to blame for the disappointment. Trade has… Keep Reading

Report: Obama Could Force Largest Corporations to Reveal Influence Peddling Through Executive Order on Contractors

If the White House were to flex its muscle and force federal government contractors to reveal their political spending, 70 percent of the largest companies in the United States would be affected, according to a non-profit research group that has long called on President Obama to force such a chain of events. Seven in 10 Fortune 100 companies over the last year have won contracts from Uncle Sam worth at least $100,000, according to Public Citizen. And if they were forced to disclose what sort of… Keep Reading

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