LABOR, ECONOMY & THE CLIMATE - page 25

The Federal Reserve is preparing to fine Goldman Sachs because one of the firm’s bankers in 2014 conspired to receive confidential information from an official at the New York Fed. Penalties aren’t expected to exceed the $50 million in fines that Goldman has already paid to state regulators as a result of the leak, according to The New York Times, which broke the story of the new enforcement action on Monday. Fed officials are also considering punishing the former superior of the now-ex Goldman employee… Keep Reading

The Obama administration is preparing a rule that would place new emissions limits on US airliners. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), jet fuel exhaust poses a public health risk and is accelerating the warming of the planet. The agency said it would therefore use its authority under the Clean Air Act to propose new regulations on pollutants generated by the industry. “Addressing pollution from aircraft is an important element of US efforts to address climate change,” said Janet McCabe on Monday. McCabe is the EPA’s… Keep Reading

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) played bombthrower at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night during his speech by refusing to endorse Donald Trump. It blew up in his face. The crowd showered Cruz with a chorus of boos and heckled him off the stage after he said “vote your conscience,” and did not mention the current nominee. Though the senator made an appeal to morality, the move appeared to be designed to set himself up for a 2020 presidential campaign. Numerous press reports before the speech… Keep Reading

A government watchdog released a report on Wednesday that knocked the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for issuing low-quality copyrights vulnerable to bogus litigation. A review of district court filings by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that the number of patent infringement lawsuits have more than doubled since 2007, with more than 5,000 actions brought last year alone. The rise, according to the GAO, is a result of deficiencies within the US patent office.  The bureaucracy has yet to define what a “quality… Keep Reading

The opening night of the Republican National Convention was, somehow, characterized by both racist commentary and the apparent plagiarism of Michelle Obama by Melania Trump. Bigoted remarks from two Republican figures ranged from xenophobic to overtly white supremacist, while at least one speaker invited to the convention accused President Obama of being a secret Muslim. Despite this, Melania Trump still seemed to somehow heavily crib from one of Michelle Obama’s most prominent addresses, when the wife of the presumptive GOP nominee spoke to the convention. “Several… Keep Reading

The man steering Donald Trump’s run for the presidency, Paul Manafort, informed reporters that the party’s platform under the presumptive GOP nominee would include a call to break up certain big banks. During a morning briefing on Monday ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Manafort claimed that the party platform contained language pushing for the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act. He said that its revival was necessary to enact “barriers between what the big banks can do and try to avoid some… Keep Reading

President Obama has reluctantly agreed to sign into law a bill that purports to address the rise in opioid abuse in the United States. Obama said he would not veto the legislation, after it cleared its final legislative hurdle on Wednesday, in a 92-2 Senate vote.  Democrats have begrudgingly supported the measure, characterizing it as an under-funded election year ploy. “While the President will sign this bill once it reaches his desk because some action is better than none, he won’t stop fighting to secure… Keep Reading

The House approved of meager relief measures on Wednesday intended to help the city of Flint deal with its drinking water crisis. A more substantial aid package, however, remains stalled in the Senate. Two amendments were attached to the Interior Department spending bill on Wednesday. One proposal would help fund a drinking water testing program in Flint, and the other permits Michigan to forgive loans it made to the city to finance public water services. The measures were introduced by Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), a lawmaker… Keep Reading

Federal prosecutors reportedly sought a guilty plea from HSBC in 2012, after the bank was caught laundering money and helping governments bust US sanctions, but the initiative was ignored by top Justice Department officials. The allegation was made earlier this week in a report compiled by Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee. The probe alleges that DOJ officials backed off any move to prosecute the London-based bank after pressure from the British government. In December 2012, the Justice Department and HSBC reached a $1.9… Keep Reading

The rivals for the Democratic nomination put the race behind them on Tuesday, and appeared together on stage in New Hampshire where Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for President. Sanders noted a “significant coming together” between the two campaigns in recent weeks, which have seen both Clinton and the Democratic establishment methodically tack to the left while drafting the party’s platform. “We produced, by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party,” Sanders told the crowd.… Keep Reading