Auto

20081108
Auto - Industry - Manufacturing - Jobs - Fuel - Retirees - Health Care - California - Nevada - Henry Paulson
"Dem Leaders Want Bush To Aid Auto Industry." ... "Democratic leaders in Congress asked the [Republican President] Bush administration on Saturday to provide more aid to the struggling auto industry, which is bleeding cash and jobs as sales have dropped to their lowest level in a quarter-century." ... "House Speaker [and California Democratic Representative] Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader [and Nevada Democratic Senator] Harry Reid said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson that the administration should consider expanding the $700 billion bailout to include car companies." ... ""A healthy automobile manufacturing sector is essential to the restoration of financial market stability, the overall health of our economy, and the livelihood of the automobile sector's work force," they wrote. "The economic downturn and the crisis in our financial markets further imperiled our domestic automobile industry and its work force."" ... "Automakers already want an additional $50 billion in loans from Congress to help them survive tough economic conditions and pay for health care obligations for retirees." ... "The money would be on top of the $25 billion in loans that Congress passed in September to help retool auto plants to build more fuel-efficient vehicles." -By Deb Riechmann -AP via -HuffingtonPost.com

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20081107
Economy - History - Auto - Manufacturing - Construction
"Jobs lost in 2008: 1.2 million: Payrolls shrink by 240,000 in October, 10th straight month of cuts. Unemployment soars to 6.5%." ... "The government reported more grim news about the economy Friday, saying employers cut 240,000 jobs in October - bringing the year's total job losses to nearly 1.2 million." ... "According to the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, the unemployment rate rose to 6.5% from 6.1% in September and higher than economists' forecast of 6.3%. It was the highest unemployment rate since March 1994." ... "With 1,179,000 cuts, the economy has lost more than a million jobs in a year for the first time since 2001 - the last time the economy was in a recession. With most economic indicators signaling even more difficult times ahead, job losses will likely deepen and continue through at least the first half of 2009." ... ""It's pretty clear that we're in a recession," said Robert Brusca, economist at FAO Economics. "There is reason for us to believe we'll see a drumbeat of heavy job losses for a while, and there's room for them to get even worse."" ... "Brusca noted that separate readings on the manufacturing and auto industries indicated economic conditions are the worst in about 30 years." ... ""We may be in a severe recession, in which case these job numbers are not even big yet," he said, suggesting monthly job loss totals could grow in excess of 300,000 an unemployment could rise to around 7%." ... "Job losses were spread across a wide variety of industries. Manufacturing lost 90,000 jobs, the leisure and hospitality industries cut 16,000 jobs, and construction employment shrank further by 49,000 jobs." ... "In another sign of weakness, a growing number of workers were unable to find jobs with the amount of hours they want to work. Those working part-time jobs - because they couldn't find full-time work, or their hours had been cut back due to slack conditions - jumped by 645,000 people to 6.7 million, the highest since July 1993." ... "The so-called under-employment rate, which counts those part-time workers, as well as those without jobs who have become discouraged and stopped looking for work, rose to 11.8% from from 11%, matching the all-time high for that measure since calculations for it began in January 1994." -By David Goldman -CNN

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20081015
Corporate - Government - Politics - Consumer - Safety - Law - Language - Health - Medicine - Auto - Transportation
"Bush Rule Changes Could Block Product-Safety Suits." ... "[Republican President] Bush administration officials, in their last weeks in office, are pushing to rewrite a wide array of federal rules with changes or additions that could block product-safety lawsuits by consumers and states." ... "The administration has written language aimed at pre-empting product-liability litigation into 50 rules governing everything from motorcycle brakes to pain medicine. The latest changes cap a multiyear effort that could be one of the administration's lasting legacies, depending in part on how the underlying principle of pre-emption fares in a case the Supreme Court will hear next month." ... "This year, lawsuit-protection language has been added to 10 new regulations, including one issued [2008 October] Oct. 8 at the Department of Transportation that limits the number of seatbelts car makers can be forced to install and prohibits suits by injured passengers who didn't get to wear one." ... "These new rules can't quickly be undone by order of the next president. Federal rules usually must go through lengthy review processes before they are changed. Rulemaking at the Food and Drug Administration, where most of the new pre-emption rules have appeared, can take a year or more." ... "The use of rulemaking to protect corporations from product liability was discussed from early in the Bush administration, said former Bush domestic-policy adviser Jay Lefkowitz, who was instrumental in the process." -By Alicia Mundy -WSJ.com

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20080920
John McCain - Cindy McCain - Barack Obama - Auto - Workers - Homes - Michigan - 2008 Election
"All the Candidates’ Cars." ... "When you have seven homes [McCain], that's a lot of garages to fill. " ... "And based on public vehicle-registration records, here's the score. John and Cindy McCain: 13. Barack and Michelle Obama: one." ... "One vehicle in the McCain fleet has caused a small flap. United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger, an Obama backer, accused McCain this month of "flip-flopping" on who bought daughter Meghan's foreign-made Toyota Prius. McCain said last year that he bought it, but then told a Detroit [Michigan] TV station on [September] Sept. 7 that Meghan "bought it, I believe, herself." (The McCain campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment.)" ... "Obama's lone vehicle also is a green machine, a 2008 Ford Escape hybrid." -By Keith Naughton and Hilary Shenfeld -Newsweek

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20080912
John McCain - William Timmons - Rick Davis - Corporate - Government - Political - History - Oil -  -  -  -  - 2008 Election
"McCain Taps Lobbyist for Transition." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain transition planner William] Timmons is the chairman emeritus of Timmons and Company, a small but influential lobbying firm he founded in 1975 shortly after leaving the [Republican Nixon-Ford] White House. According to Senate records, he registered to lobby in 2008 for a wide range of companies and trade groups, including the American Petroleum Institute, the American Medical Association, Chrysler, Freddie Mac, Visa USA and Anheuser-Busch." ... "His registrations include work on a number of issues that have become flashpoints in the presidential campaign. He has registered to work on bills that deal with the regulations of troubled [home] mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, a bill to provide farm subsidies and bills that regulate domestic oil-drilling." ... "By tapping Timmons, McCain has turned to one of Washington's steadiest and most senior inside players to guide him in the event of a victory — but also to someone who represents the antithesis of the kind of outside-of-Washington change he has recently been promising. One Republican familiar with the process said the decision to involve Timmons could become a political liability for the campaign's reformist image, especially in the wake of the controversies over the lobbying backgrounds of other McCain staffers, including campaign manager Rick Davis. "It's one more blind spot for Rick Davis and John McCain," the person said." -By Michael Scherer -TIME.com

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20080827
John McCain - Houses - Economy - Car - Internet - US - Foreign - Gas - Torture - Guantanamo - Prison - Stem Cells - Health Care - Politics - 2008 Election
"Trust Me." ... ""You’re the Republican candidate for president and you want to fix the country's problems even though you don’t know much about the economy, you don’t know how to use the internet, you don’t know how many houses you own or what kind of car you drive, you admit you don’t think clearly when you’re tired, you make frequent gaffes on foreign policy, you think offshore drilling is a short-term solution to high gas prices, you support torture and keeping the Guantanamo prison open, you make rash decisions and statements from which you have to quickly backtrack, you have an explosive temper on a hair trigger, your idea of health care reform is 'wear more sunscreen,' you're for stem cell research except when it's done on stem cells because you consider them all American citizens, and you voted to support the policies of the worst president ever 100 percent of the time this year?"" ... ""Trust me, my friends. I was a POW."" ... "Only in Republicanland." -Bill in Portland Maine -DailyKos.com

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20080814
Michigan - Economic - History - Auto - Manufacturing
"[Michigan] State's jobless rate is 8.5%: Unemployed number remains steady as work force drops by 33,000. U.S. [United States] average is 5.7%." ... "The state's unemployment rate remained stubbornly high at 8.5 percent in July, the third consecutive month the jobless rate remained at a level not seen since the recession of the early '90s." ... "The rate remained steady not because the state stopped losing jobs -- a total of 29,000 positions were cut by employers with few new jobs added -- but because the number of people in the work force fell by 33,000." ... "Michigan's jobless rate -- far higher than the national rate of 5.7 percent -- is another sign the woes of the auto industry continue to grip the state. Since July 2007, the number of unemployed workers in the state has increased by 65,000 or 18.4 percent." ... ""With somewhat more than half of the year already in the books, it is pretty obvious that 2008 will be the fifth consecutive year of recession for Michigan," said Dana Johnson, chief economist for Comerica Inc." -By Louis Aguilar -DetNews.com

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20080613
Gordon Smith - Oil - Money - Auto - Makers - Oregon - Television - Ad - 2008 Election
"Political ads try to tie Smith to gas prices." ... "An independent Democratic group launched two television ads today that try to tie [Oregon] Republican Senator Gordon Smith to skyrocketing gasoline prices." ... "Both contend that Smith has accepted huge contributions from oil companies and automakers, and that he had voted against higher fuel mileage standards while supporting tax breaks for oil companies." -AP via KTVZ

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WATCH Ad on Gordon Smith oil corporation "Billions"
WATCH Ad on Gordon Smith gasoline "Dollars"

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20080523
• Oceans - Global - Climate - Science - Environmental - Atmospheric - Industrial - Factories - Cars - History - Animals - Seattle - Washington - California - Oregon - US - Canada - Mexico - "Acidified seawater showing up along coast ahead of schedule." ... "Climate models predicted it wouldn't happen until the end of the century." ... "So a team led by Seattle [Washington] researchers was stunned to discover that vast swaths of acidified seawater already are showing up along the Pacific Coast as greenhouse-gas emissions upset the oceans' chemical balance." ... "In surveys from Vancouver Island [British Columbia, Canada] to the tip of Baja California [Mexico], reported Thursday in the online journal Science Express, the scientists found the first evidence that large amounts of corrosive water are reaching the continental shelf — the shallow sea margin where most marine creatures live." ... "Off Northern California, the acidified water was only four miles from shore." ... ""What we found ... was truly astonishing," said oceanographer Richard Feely, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. "This means ocean acidification may be seriously impacting marine life on the continental shelf right now."" ... "All along the coast, the scientists found regions where the water was acidic enough to dissolve the shells and skeletons of clams, corals and many of the tiny creatures at the base of the marine food chain. Acidified water also can kill fish eggs and a wide range of marine larvae." ... ""Entire marine ecosystems are likely to be affected," said co-author Debby Ianson, an oceanographer at Fisheries and Oceans Canada." ... "Though it hasn't received as much attention as global warming, ocean acidification is a flip side of the same phenomenon. The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from power plants, factories and cars that is raising temperatures worldwide also is to blame for the increasing acidity of the world's oceans." ... "Normally, seawater is slightly alkaline. When carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves into the water, it forms carbonic acid — the weak acid that helps give soda pop its tang. The process also robs the water of carbonate, a key ingredient in the formation of calcium carbonate shells." ... "Since the Industrial Revolution, when humans began pumping massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Feely estimates the oceans have absorbed 525 billion tons of the man-made greenhouse gas — about one-third of the total released during that period." ... "By keeping some of the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the oceans have blunted the temperature rise due to global warming. But they've suffered for that service, with a more than 30-percent increase in acidity." ... "The acidified water upwelling along the coast today was last exposed to the atmosphere about 50 years ago, when carbon-dioxide levels were much lower than they are now. That means the water that will rise from the depths over the coming decades will have absorbed more carbon dioxide and will be even more acidic." -By Sandi Doughton -SeattleTimes

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20080509
• US - Iraq - MRAPs - Vehicles - "Military adds armor to vehicles as roadside bombs surge." ... "The U.S. military is reinforcing the sides of its topline mine-resistant vehicles to shore up what could be weak points as troops see a spike in armor-piercing roadside bombings across Iraq, The Associated Press has learned." ... "The surge in attacks is putting the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles (MRAPs) to the test, and so far they are largely passing. Statistics reviewed by the AP show that while bombings involving the deadly penetrating explosives have jumped by about 40 percent in the past three months, deaths in such bombings have dropped by as much as 17 percent." ... "Officials attribute much of the decline in deaths to the increased use of MRAPs, pronounced "M-raps." To date, about a half-dozen troops have died in incidents that involved the new bomb-resistant vehicles, and several of those deaths occurred in rollovers rather than from explosives penetrating the armor." -By Lolita C. Baldor and Chelsea Carter -AP via -SeattleTimes

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20080505
• Vito J Fossella - New York - Virginia - Cops - Driving - Law - Marketing - Money - 2008 Election - "Vito Fossella's relationship with 'mystery woman' under scrutiny." ... "This is the first look at the mystery woman whom [Staten Island, New York Republican Representative] Rep. Vito Fossella (R-S.I. [Republican-Staten Island]) called for help after he was charged with drunken driving in Virginia." ... "Fossella aides continued to describe the two only as good friends." ... "In other developments:" ... "Watchdog groups questioned Fossella's use of campaign funds to pay a high-priced damage control expert." ... "The Republican, facing reelection in November [2008 Election], had a blood-alcohol level of 0.17 - twice the legal limit, cops said, and hired damage consultant Susan Del Percio with money from his campaign war chest." -By Kenneth R. Bazinet, Joe Gould, and Tina Moore -NYDailyNews.com

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20080430
• Clinton - McCain - Obama - Infrastructure - Auto - Transportation - North Carolina - 2008 Election - Oil - Companies - Politics - "Clinton-McCain gas tax holiday slammed as bad idea." ... "The [gas] tax is used to fund the Highway Trust Fund that builds and maintains roads and bridges." ... "Economists said that since refineries cannot increase their supply of gasoline in the space of a few summer months, lower prices will just boost demand and the benefits will flow to oil companies, not consumers." ... ""You are just going to push up the price of gas by almost the size of the tax cut," said Eric Toder, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama criticized the plan as pure politics and said the only way to lower the price of gas is to use less oil." ... ""It would last for three months and it would save you on average half a tank of gas, $25 to $30. That's what Senator Clinton and Senator McCain are proposing to deal with the gas crisis," he said on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina." ... ""This isn't an idea designed to get you through the summer, it's an idea designed to get them through an election."" (1, 2, 3) -By Alister Bull with contributions by Bill Trott -Reuters

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20080429
• McCain - Clinton - Obama - Transportation - Infrastructure - Federal - Money - Arizona - New York - Illinois - 2008 Election - Labor_Day - Memorial Day - Consumer - Car - Gas - Politics - "What a gas: Candidates seem far less presidential when they talk about 'gas tax holidays' rather than the nation's ongoing needs." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's idea to give Americans a summer holiday from federal gas taxes is about as weighty as a Barbie Dream Car, yet he can't stop driving it into the ground." ... "Neither can [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton. The two presidential contenders can't resist the chance to pander to voters and, as a bonus, paint [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama as an elitist. By doing so, they're missing an opportunity to show leadership on some major long-term challenges -- such as updating the nation's crowded roads and aging bridges." ... "In a speech on April 15, McCain proposed that the federal government suspend the 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax and the 24.4-cent-per-gallon diesel tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day. ... "McCain's idea is problematic on several levels. First, it would begin and end several months before the next president takes office, so it's more of a thought balloon than a plan. Second, the tax relief would save the typical American family only about $40 per car, while also siphoning $10 billion from the cash-strapped federal highway fund." ... "What's more, leading economists say the tax break would do little to lower the prices at the pump. More likely, the slightly lower prices would lead to higher demand, which would push the prices back up, allowing oil companies to make more money while federal tax coffers go hungry." ... "This is an election-year sop, not a plan for the future." -Oregonian

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20080425
• Consumer - Opinion - History - Fuel - Employment - Houses - Cars - Michigan - "U.S. Economy: Sentiment Weakens More Than Anticipated (Update3)." ... "U.S. [United States] consumer confidence fell more than forecast in April to a 26-year low as record fuel prices and rising unemployment threatened to reduce spending." ... "The Reuters/University of Michigan sentiment index decreased to 62.6, from 69.5 the previous month. The measure was down from a preliminary estimate of 63.2 issued on April 11." ... "Consumers are growing increasingly anxious because the economy has lost almost a quarter million jobs so far this year, gasoline is up 17 percent and property values have fallen. Sales of houses and cars have declined as a result, contributing to a slowdown that may bring an end to the six-year expansion." ... "The index of consumer expectations for six months from now, which more closely projects the direction of consumer spending, dropped to 53.3 from 60.1 last month." ... "The economy lost 80,000 jobs in March, the most in five years, following a 76,000 drop in payrolls in each of the prior two months, according to figures from the Labor Department." ... "The average price of regular unleaded gasoline rose to a record $3.58 a gallon yesterday, according to data from AAA [American Automobile Association]." ... "Cars and light trucks sold at an average 15.2 million annual pace in the first three months of the year, the fewest since the third quarter of 1998." -By Bob Willis -Bloomberg 

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20080423
• Mary Peters - Covert - Language - Law - Politics - Greenhouse Gases - Clean Air Act - Environmental - Transportation - Auto - Makers - Fuel - Economy - San Francisco - California - Massachusetts - US - Global - Climate - "Bush fuel economy rules swipe at California." ... "When the [Republican President] Bush administration announced proposed regulations Tuesday to raise fuel economy standards for cars and trucks to 31.6 miles per gallon by 2015, even some environmentalists applauded. But then they read the fine print." ... "Tucked deep into a 417-page "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" was language by the Transportation Department stating that more stringent limits on tailpipe emissions embraced by California and 17 other states are "an obstacle to the accomplishment" of the new federal standards and are "expressly and impliedly preempted" by federal law." ... "California Attorney General Jerry Brown called it a covert assault on California's rules. Environmentalists said the language will be used by automakers in their legal challenges to two recent federal court rulings that sided with the states." ... "The language showed that beneath the bipartisan veneer of support for new fuel economy standards - approved by [the Democratic controlled] Congress and signed by [Republican] President Bush in December - the conflict is still raging between the White House and the states over who will set the nation's first limits on greenhouse gases." ... "Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who announced the proposed rules Tuesday, acknowledged that the preemption language was included in the document." ... "The Supreme Court ruled in the Massachusetts vs. EPA case last year that the Transportation Department's authority to set fuel economy standards should not impede other efforts under the Clean Air Act to reduce greenhouse gases." ... "[California Democratic Representative and] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D[Democratic]-San Francisco [California], responded: "The administration is continuing to block climate change progress by asserting that California doesn't have the right to move forward with its own global warming regulations. That is completely unjustified."" -By Zachary Coile -SFGate.com

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20080421
• Global - Planet - Oil - Food - Agriculture - Car - Economy - China - "Running Out of Planet to Exploit." ... "Last week, oil hit $117." ... "Food prices have also soared, as have the prices of basic metals. And the global surge in commodity prices is reviving a question we haven’t heard much since the 1970s: Will limited supplies of natural resources pose an obstacle to future world economic growth?" ... "How you answer this question depends largely on what you believe is driving the rise in resource prices. Broadly speaking, there are three competing views." ... "The first is that it’s mainly speculation — that investors, looking for high returns at a time of low interest rates, have piled into commodity futures, driving up prices." ... "The second view is that soaring resource prices do, in fact, have a basis in fundamentals — especially rapidly growing demand from newly meat-eating, car-driving Chinese — but that given time we’ll drill more wells, plant more acres, and increased supply will push prices right back down again." ... "The third view is that the era of cheap resources is over for good — that we’re running out of oil, running out of land to expand food production and generally running out of planet to exploit." ... "I find myself somewhere between the second and third views." ... "There are some very smart people — not least, George Soros — who believe that we’re in a commodities bubble (although Mr. Soros says that the bubble is still in its “growth phase”)." -By Paul Krugman -NYTimes 

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20080331
• Oil - Politics - Government - US - Calif - Global - Climate - Environmental - Emissions - Memorial Day - Driving - "Gas prices put oil executives on the hot seat." ... "Oil executives return to the hot seat Tuesday as a House panel examines rising gasoline prices and the industry’s opposition to efforts to repeal $18 billion in tax breaks. The new money would be used to pay for the development of renewable energy." ... "For the industry’s critics, the House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming hearing Tuesday is another indication of the industry’s waning clout on Capitol Hill, as was the House vote earlier this year that repealed tax breaks the industry now receives." ... "But the army of lobbyists who represent the oil and gas industry has so far successfully fought back in the Senate, which has yet to pass a similar tax bill, forcing renewable energy advocates to lower their own expectations." ... "Executives from ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Chevron and ConocoPhillips were expected to testify before the House panel, which was created by [California Democratic Representative] Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.[Democratic-California]) to highlight her caucus’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the nation’s dependence on foreign oil." ... "Some oil lobbyists worried the hearing could turn raucous since prices at the pump have reached a new record — weeks before the traditional start of driving season on Memorial Day." ... "By coincidence or not, the hearing is being held the same day as “Fossil Fools’ Day,” a campaign by some environmental groups. They question the wisdom of continuing to use fossil fuels, which emit carbon dioxide when burned, as the mainstay for energy production when global temperatures are rising because of increasing greenhouse gas emissions." -By Jim Snyder -TheHill.com

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20080321
• Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - John McCain - Debt - US - Iraq - Military - Illinois - West Virginia - Indiana - Car - Oil - Household - 2008 Election - "Obama Links Effects of War Costs to Fragility in the Economy." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois] Senator Barack Obama on Thursday blamed the fragile economy on “careless and incompetent execution” of the Iraq war, imploring voters in this swing state [of West Virginia] to consider the trickle-down economic consequences of the war as they choose a successor to [Republican] President Bush." ... "“When you’re spending over $50 to fill up your car because the price of oil is four times what it was before Iraq, you’re paying a price for this war,” Mr. Obama said to an audience at the University of Charleston [in West Virginia]. “When Iraq is costing each household about $100 a month, you’re paying a price for this war.”" ... "“No matter what the costs, no matter what the consequences, [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain seems determined to carry out a third Bush term,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s an outcome America can’t afford. Because of the Bush-McCain policies, our debt has ballooned.”" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton in Indiana:] “We spend $12 billion a month in Iraq, and that does affect the economy,” Mrs. Clinton said. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve gone into more and more debt. We’ve got to begin not only to withdraw our troops, but bring that money back home. We need to put that money to work here in Indiana.”" -By Jeff Zeleny and Michael Cooper with contributions by Patrick Healy -NYTimes 

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20080314
• Political - Government - Environmental - Air - Science - Health - People - Farm - Land - Animals - Clean Air Act - Law - Industry - Motor Vehicles - "Ozone Rules Weakened at Bush's Behest: EPA Scrambles To Justify Action." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency weakened one part of its new limits on smog-forming ozone after an unusual last-minute intervention by [Republican] President Bush, according to documents released by the EPA." ... "EPA officials initially tried to set a lower seasonal limit on ozone to protect wildlife, parks and farmland, as required under the law. While their proposal was less restrictive than what the EPA's scientific advisers had proposed, Bush overruled EPA officials and on Tuesday ordered the agency to increase the limit [of allowable air pollution], according to the documents." ... ""It is unprecedented and an unlawful act of political interference for the president personally to override a decision that the Clean Air Act leaves exclusively to EPA's expert scientific judgment," said John Walke, clean-air director for the Natural Resources Defense Council." ... "The president's order prompted a scramble by administration officials to rewrite the regulations to avoid a conflict with past EPA statements on the harm caused by ozone." ... "Solicitor General Paul D. Clement warned administration officials late Tuesday night that the rules contradicted the EPA's past submissions to the Supreme Court, according to sources familiar with the conversation. As a consequence, administration lawyers hustled to craft new legal justifications for the weakened standard." ... "Ozone, which is formed when pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and other chemical compounds released by industry and motor vehicles are exposed to sunlight, is linked to an array of heart and respiratory illnesses." (1, 2) -By Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost

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20080313
• Stephen L Johnson - Corporate - Government - Politics - Environmental - Air - Health - Science - Clean Air Act - Law - History - Vehicles - Manufacturing - Power Plants - Children - "EPA Tightens Pollution Standards: But Agency Ignored Advisers' Guidance." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday limited the allowable amount of pollution-forming ozone in the air to 75 parts per billion, a level significantly higher [meaning more polluting] than what the agency's scientific advisers had urged for this key component of unhealthy air pollution." ... "[Republican President Bush's Environmental Protection Agency] Administrator Stephen L. Johnson also said he would push Congress to rewrite the nearly 37-year-old Clean Air Act to allow regulators to take into consideration the cost and feasibility of controlling pollution when making decisions about air quality, something that is currently prohibited by the law. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that the government needed to base the ozone standard strictly on protecting public health, with no regard to cost." ... "The new pollution rules -- one of the most important environmental decisions facing the Bush administration in the president's final year in office -- will be a major factor in determining the quality of the air Americans will breathe for at least a decade. The standards, which are aimed at protecting both public health and welfare, are designed to limit the amount of nitrogen oxides and other chemical compounds released into the air by vehicles, manufacturing facilities and power plants. In sunlight, the pollutants form ozone." ... "Johnson said he did "what was required by the law and the recent scientific evidence," but his decision to set a lower but still less-restrictive limit than what the EPA's advisory committees had recommended sparked a backlash from Democratic lawmakers, public health advocates and his own independent advisers." ... "Nearly a year ago, EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee reiterated in writing that its members were "unanimous in recommending" that the agency set the standard no higher than 70 parts per billion (ppb) and to consider a limit as low as 60 ppb. EPA's Children's Health Protection Advisory Committee and public health advocates lobbied for the 60-ppb limit because children are more vulnerable to air pollution." ... "EPA and other scientists have shown that ozone has a direct impact on rates of heart and respiratory disease and resulting premature deaths. The agency calculates that the new standard of 75 ppb would prevent 1,300 to 3,500 premature deaths a year, whereas 65 ppb would avoid 3,000 to 9,200 deaths annually. " -By Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost

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20080305
• Peoples - Homes - Cars - Economics - "Banks' losses could put $900 billion squeeze on consumers: Troubled loans – from homes to cars – could trim economic growth by 1 percentage point, a new forecast says." ... "Consumers and businesses now face an economic downturn made more difficult by a contraction among banks and other lenders. In fact, the health of banks has become perhaps the biggest source of uncertainty about the economy." ... "How bad is the damage?" ... "By one new estimate, troubled mortgages alone could knock a full percentage point off economic growth in the year ahead. And mortgages are just part of the problem. With losses also rising on loans for everything from cars to commercial real estate, banks effectively will have less money available to make new loans – perhaps $900 billion less." ... ""The reality is that banks are in trouble," says Ed Yardeni, an economist who until recently has been optimistic about the economy's prospects for avoiding recession. "I don't think they'll go bankrupt. [But] we're in the process of cleaning up the mess that the financial engineers created" by reselling shaky home loans to investors." ... "Late last week, a team of researchers put forward a detailed analysis of the problem – or at least the biggest known chunk of the problem." ... "The most likely outcome is that mortgage losses in the current cycle will total $400 billion, concluded the four economists involved, Jan Hatzius of Goldman Sachs, David Greenlaw of Morgan Stanley, Anil Kashyap of the University of Chicago, and Hyun Song Shin of Princeton University." ... "Currently, consumers and businesses hold some $30 trillion in debt, so the $900 billion drop represents roughly a 3 percent cut in credit, according to Yardeni." -By Mark Trumbull -CSMonitor

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20080226
• US - Iraq - Military - MRAP - Vehicles - Investigation - Government - Politics - "Marines halt study critical of MRAP program." ... "The Marine Corps has ordered a civilian scientist to stop work on a report critical of its efforts to obtain new armored vehicles, saying he exceeded his authority, a Marine official said Tuesday." ... "Franz Gayl, a retired Marine officer and civilian science adviser, alleged in a Jan. 22 report that "gross mismanagement" of the program to quickly field Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles had resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of Marines in Iraq. Gayl had planned to continue his investigation." ... "Gayl's report was first made public by the Associated Press on Feb. 15. The report said Marine procurement officers spurned requests from commanders in Iraq for blast-resistant vehicles because they didn't want to derail other projects." ... "PROBE: Pentagon urged to investigate MRAP report." ... "MRAP REPORT: Lack of vehicles cost Marine lives." ... "FULL COVERAGE: Troops at Risk: IEDs in Iraq." -By Tom Vanden Brook -USATODAY

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• Stephen Johnson - Environmental - Politics - California - Transportation - Auto - Makers - Emissions - Law - Health - Science - Clean Air Act -