Climate Gets A Night In The Sun

Senate Democrats wrap up all-nighter for climate. AP: “Democrats have been plowing through a dusk-to-dawn talkathon during which more than two dozen speakers have agreed with each other about the need for action on climate change. Naysayers — Republicans — largely stayed away … [Sen. Sheldon] Whitehouse said the session was needed to highlight obstacles to climate legislation, including ads financed by Charles and David Koch, conservative activists who have spent $15 million on Senate races, mostly criticizing Democrats over Obamacare. The Koch brothers, whose interests include oil, chemicals, textiles and paper, have also spent millions on ads critical of action against climate change.”
“
Reid slams Kochs. The Hill quotes: “It’s time to stop acting like those who ignore this crisis — the oil baron Koch brothers and their allies in Congress — have a valid point of view,”

Vulnerable Dems skip out. Roll Call: “According to a list of participating senators provided by Democrats, the most politically vulnerable among them will not speak: Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and John Walsh of Montana. Interviews with several moderate Democrats on Monday suggested they were not invited to contribute to the event, while GOP campaigns hit Senate Democrats generally for staging such a stand on the floor … Divisions among Democrats on climate change issues and how to legislate them are nothing new. In 2010, now-Sen. Joe Manchin III infamously put a bullet through that failed cap-and-trade bill …”

“Climate Action Senators Raised Less From Oil And Gas Industry Than Those On The Sidelines” reports Huffington Post

Coal plants being replaced by gas, aiding climate but creating some price volatility. NYT: “The coal plants are dirty, and expensive compared to natural gas at summertime prices. But coal is far less prone to price jumps or to shortages, and in a cold snap, it looks like a bargain. Without the coal plants, experts agree, prices in the peak periods of winter and summer will be higher, so future periods of cold weather may be even harder on electric bills … In some cases, the Environmental Protection Agency has reduced the disruption caused by retirements by delaying deadlines, to give utilities more time to comply with its rules or to get alternate arrangements in place …”

Long-Term Unemployment Is The Unemployment Problem

Short-term unemployment in much better shape than long-term, notes Mother Jones’ Kevin Drum: “…short-term unemployment levels are nearly back to their 2007 levels and continuing to drop. Long-term unemployment, by contrast, is still three times its 2007 level. For all practical purposes, long-term unemployment is now practically our entire unemployment problem.”

Aid to poor is an investment, writes Jared Bernstein in NYT: “The right is saying that the left focuses on poor people’s consumption while neglecting to invest in their future. Broadly speaking, consumption gets you through today; investment sets you up for a better tomorrow. Representative Ryan might say that consumption is for the stomach; investment is for the soul … it presumes that those who set up this dichotomy have a robust investment plan, though they do not. But more interestingly, a spate of recent research shows that it’s wrong on the merits. A lot of what you’d mistake for consumption really works like investment…”

Breakfast Sides

Major anti-Obamacare ad definitively debunked by Detroit News: “Julie Boonstra, 49, starred last month in an emotional television ad sponsored by Americans for Prosperity that implied Democratic U.S. Rep. Gary Peters’ vote for the Affordable Care Act made her medication so ‘unaffordable’ she could die … On Monday, Boonstra acknowledged which health plan she chose, offering the first evidence of cost savings … Boonstra said Monday her new plan she dislikes is the Blue Cross Premier Gold health care plan, which caps patient responsibility for out-of-pocket costs at $5,100 a year, lower than the federal law’s maximum of $6,350 a year. It means the new plan will save her at least $1,200 compared with her former insurance plan she preferred that was ended under Obamacare’s coverage requirements.”

Diane Ravitch defends Mayor de Blasio on charter schools: “Time for a fact check. When de Blasio ran for mayor, he said he would slow the growth of charters and would charge them rent, based on their ability to pay … Success Academy, which has screamed the loudest about losing space, won five new charters, not the eight that it wanted. Yet Eva Moskowitz was so outraged that she closed her 22 schools for a day and bused thousands of students and parents to Albany to lead a mass rally … De Blasio did not abandon charters or evict children from charters.”