MORNING MESSAGE
From
a tactical point of view, it makes sense for Clinton to welcome their support.
But it poses a dangerous temptation for her – especially when, as is the case
with Bloomberg, Whitman, and Klarman, it presumably comes with buckets full of
campaign cash. She may see this support as a mandate to form something like a
unity government with Republicans, a call to tack right toward the failed
“centrism” and “bipartisanship” of the past several decades. That would be a
tragic error, but it would it follow a well-worn groove in recent American
politics.
TRUMP COZIES UP TO WALL STREET
Trump’s
economic team full of “real-estate investors, hedge-fund managers and bankers.”
Politico: “Names on the list, which the Trump campaign boasted as having
“unparalleled experience and success in business” include Steve Roth, the
founder and chairman of Vornado Realty Trust; oil and gas tycoon Harold Hamm;
Vector Group President and CEO Howard Lorber; Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s national
finance director and chairman/CEO of Dune Capital; top fundraiser Tom Barrack,
the founder and chief executive at Colony Capital; Stephen M. Calk, chairman and
CEO of The Federal Savings Bank; John Paulson, president and CEO of investment
firm Paulson & Co.; Andy Beal, a banker, businessman and poker player; and
Steve Feinberg, co-founder and CEO of Cerberus Capital Management.”
Maine
activists protest Trump with pocket Constitutions. Maine Beacon: “…a dozen
protesters … stood silently and held up pocket-size copies of the U.S.
Constitution … Some had the booklets ripped from their hands and all were
escorted out of Merrill Auditorium by Trump’s security … the event quickly
became national and international news … ‘[We] aren’t just standing up for the
family of Captain Humayun Khan. We’re standing up for the principles for which
Captain Khan gave his life,’ explained Maria Testa, a Portland resident and
activist with the Maine People’s Alliance.”
CALIFORNIA CLIMATE PROGRAM THREaTENED
Gov.
Jerry Brown suggests ballot initiative if legislature won’t protect climate
program. LAT: “Environmental advocates and some lawmakers have wanted new
laws this month to extend the state’s targets for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions and to safeguard the cap-and-trade program … Brown has his sights set
on crafting a measure that would receive support from two-thirds of lawmakers in
each house of the Legislature, a higher threshold that would safeguard the
cap-and-trade program from legal challenges … If legislation isn’t successful in
the Capitol, Brown could decide to move forward with a ballot measure in
2018.”
British
Columbia carbon tax working. Washington Monthly: “The tax has had undeniably
significant effects on the province’s consumption of fossil fuels and, as a
consequence, its carbon emissions … BC’s tax is required to be revenue-neutral,
which means that carbon tax revenues must be used to offset other taxes.
Consequently, BC’s corporate tax rate is currently the lowest of any Canadian
province. The revenue also finances BC’s Low Income Climate Action Tax Credit …
to help offset the tax’s regressivity … For the last eight years, unemployment
in BC has been consistently lower than the Canadian average.”
Former
Sen. Mark Udall warns against oil shale mining in NYT oped: “In Utah, Enefit
proposes strip mining over 9,000 acres and developing an oil shale processing
operation intended to yield 50,000 barrels a day. It’s asking the [Bureau of
Land Management] to let it run three pipelines and a power line across federal
land. If the agency says yes, Enefit could break ground on the first serious
commercial-scale oil shale project in the United States as early as next year.
That would open the door to oil shale mining nationally.”
Former
Bush national security adviser Stephen Hadley warns about climate change. The
Hill quotes: “Climate change and a lot of other economic dislocations have
put a lot of people out of work. They are on the move and they have no place to
go, and it means they are recruiting grounds for terrorists and extremists and
potential refugee flows that will tax Europe even more.”
BREAKFAST SIDES
Solid
jobs report could spark interest rate hike. NYT: “The American economy
roared ahead last month, as employers added 255,000 jobs … the Federal Reserve
may take a fresh look at raising interest rates when it meets in September … the
government provided an extra tailwind, adding 38,000 jobs last month … Wages
also showed signs of life, with average hourly earnings rising 0.3 percent in
July, bringing the 12-month gain to 2.6 percent … increases in the minimum wage
in many states recently, plus increases in the lowest-tier salaries by big
employers like Walmart,Target and Aetna, are beginning to ripple through the
broader work force.”
Speaker
Paul Ryan douses cold water on TPP. The Hill quotes: “As long as we don’t
have the votes, I see no point in bringing up an agreement only to defeat it … I
have my own problems with TPP, it is not ready, the president has to renegotiate
some critical components of it … The sands are burning through the hourglass
pretty fast, I don’t see how they’ll ever get the votes for it.”
Progressive
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