LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 24

About one in seventeen Americans who get their health insurance on state-level Obamacare exchanges will have to find a new provider next year. Aetna, one of the country’s largest health insurance company, said on Monday that in 2017 it will stop offering individual plans through eleven states’ Affordable Care Act exchanges. States impacted by the decision include Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Arizona. About 838,000 people are currently insured through Aetna’s individual plans sold on ACA state exchanges. Roughly 80 percent of them… Keep Reading

A former congressional wonk, covert CIA agent and Goldman Sachs investment banker has emerged as an eleventh hour Republican challenger to Donald Trump. Evan McMullin announced Monday that he would run as an independent conservative candidate for President. Until revealing his campaign, he was a senior policy staffer for House Republicans. A virtually-unknown figure that has already missed his chance to even vie for an electoral college majority, McMullin, at this point, can only play the role of a spoiler. He appears intent on it.… Keep Reading

Hillary Clinton is growing cozier with the hydraulic fracturing industry, just months after she promised to heavily regulate it. The Democratic Party’s presidential candidate attended a $50,000 per place fundraiser in Aspen, Colo. on Tuesday, hosted by fracking magnate Charif Souaki. The event raised $650,000 for the campaign. As the International Business Times reported, Souaki “amassed his fortune working for natural gas companies including one he founded last year, Tellurian Investments.” A subsidiary of Tellurian, Driftwood LNG, filed for a license in June with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission… Keep Reading

The judicial body overseeing federal tax disputes has issued a ruling that expands what whistleblowers can claim as a reward when they help the government crack down on evasion. US Tax Court on Wednesday awarded $17.8 million to undisclosed informants—likely those who helped bring about the prosecution of a now-defunct Swiss bank called Wegelin & Co, according to The Wall Street Journal. The firm shuttered in 2013 after pleading guilty to conspiring with American taxpayers to obscure their assets from the Internal Revenue Service. The… Keep Reading

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is rolling out a set of rules designed to clampdown on aggressive and reckless debt collection agencies. Third party debt collectors would be barred from attempting to contact alleged delinquents more than six times per week, the bureau said. The initiative would also require collection agencies to verify that the person they’re contacting actually owes money to the entity that contracted their services in the first place. Rules would also place a 30-day waiting period after a person’s death,… Keep Reading

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) may have officially endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after losing to the centrist in a bitterly-contested primary, but the senator is hoping to keep his “political revolution” alive. Sanders has started a “social welfare” 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, to support progressive groups seeking to coach and vet those who want to run for office. He touted the group, called “Our Revolution,” in an email sent to supporters earlier this week. “The goal of this organization will be no different from… Keep Reading

Hillary Clinton’s staff moved to reassure voters on Tuesday night that her opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership is solid, and not just a campaign promise likely to be broken if she makes it to the White House. Campaign manager John Podesta took to Twitter to push back against comments that Clinton supporter, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-Va.), made to Politico, predicting Clinton would end up supporting TPP. “Listen, she was in support of it. There were specific things in it she wants fixed,” McAuliffe said.… Keep Reading

President Obama’s top trade negotiator said that Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks can’t proceed until the contours of the “Brexit” become more clear. The trade deal, which boosters were hoping to finalize before Obama leaves office, has been complicated by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. In a referendum held last month, Britons voted 52-48 to leave the EU. “As a practical matter, it is not possible to meaningfully advance separate trade and investment negotiations with the United Kingdom until some of the basic… Keep Reading