Senate passes trade 'fast track,' handing Obama a major victory

The Senate voted Wednesday to give President Barack Obama "fast track" authority to negotiate trade deals—one of the final steps in a long political battle that pitted the White House against House Democrats.

The bill—which passed 60-38 in the Senate—will be sent to the president's desk later this afternoon, but it was not immediately clear when he would sign it.

Unions and most congressional Democrats say free-trade deals cost U.S. jobs and reward countries that pollute and mistreat workers. Obama and most Republican leaders say U.S. products must reach broader markets.

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President Barack Obama.

After killing one version of fast track (also known as Trade Promotion Authority, or TPA), the House eventually voted last week to pass the measure.

The Senate plans to vote on three other trade-related bills. One would extend a job retraining program for workers displaced by international trade. That program requires House approval, too.

Read More Pacific trade: Why DC is fighting about 'fast-track'

On Tuesday, Senators voted 60-37 to streamline the debate process—a key victory for the Obama-backed measure.

Senate passage Wednesday of fast-track authority boosts Obama's hopes for a 12-nation Pacific-rim trade agreement. Members include Japan, Malaysia, Mexico and Canada.

In addition to the traditional arguments for trade deals, administration officials and many Republicans contend that the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership would help underscore the U.S. pivot toward Asia—and establish Washington's system in a part of the world increasingly influenced by Chinese interests.

Via: CNBC

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With nuclear plants idled, Japan launches pioneering wind project BY CAROL J. WILLIAMS

Japan inaugurated a floating offshore wind turbine Monday that energy industry leaders hope will open a new frontier in Japanese renewable technologies and help the country reduce its dependence on nuclear energy and fossil fuels.

The floating platform is anchored 13 miles offshore from the crippledFukushima Daiichinuclear power plant, the scene of earthquake, tsunami and reactor meltdown disasters in March 2011.

The platform, anchored to the seabed 400 feet below the surface, is the first project of its kind in Japan, and is intended to show that emerging energy technologies can take advantage of powerful offshore winds despite the challenging ocean depths around most of the island country.

Electricity generated by the new 2,000-kilowatt wind turbine is relayed at the adjacent floating substation to an underwater cable anddistributed to about 600 householdsby Tohoku Electric Power Co., the Jiji Press agency said.

The project, which envisions two additional floating turbines next year with 7,000-kilowatt capacity each, is a joint public-private undertaking by the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, the University of Tokyo and 10 major industrial enterprises.

Japan's wind energy potential could generate 1,570 gigawatts, orfive times current national electricity output, the Japan Daily Press said in its report on the turbine start-up. It hailed the project as reflecting the hope that nuclear power, which supplied nearly one-third of Japan's electricity needs before the Fukushima disaster, can be significantlyreduced or phased out.

All 50 of Japan's nuclear reactors are shut down or inoperable following the March 11, 2011, disasters that began with a magnitude-9 earthquake, which triggered the tsunami that smashed through retaining walls at the four-reactor Fukushima complex. Electrical utilities have already petitioned the government to restart 14 of the idled reactors following safety retrofits and more stringent regulations put in place after the Fukushima meltdowns.

Via: McClatchy

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/11/11/208225/with-nuclear-plants-idled-japan.html#storylink=cpy

CHART: WHO DOES THE U.S. GOV’T OWE $17 TRILLION TO?

The U.S. government owes a lot of money.

A lot.

In fact, U.S. debt today stands at about $17 trillion.

Obviously, that’s a little difficult to understand with just words.

So here to help you visualize the debt situation in the U.S. — and help you understand where money is owed — is a helpful chart from National Public Radio:

National Public Radio

Here are some key takeaways [as presented by Business Insider]:

• We owe most of the money to ourselves.
• We owe a big chunk of the money — about $6 trillion — to the Federal government. So if there ever were a default (hopefully there won’t be) the government would also be stiffing itself.
• We owe about $5 trillion to other countries, including China.
• The total debt to China is only $1.3 trillion. So we’re not in hock to China as much as some people think we are.
• Yes, it’s a boatload of debt. But the experience of Japan, the U.S. after World War 2, and other countries, suggests that it’s a manageable amount, as long as we eventually get our long-term entitlement spending under control.

Click here to read the full NRP article on the U.S.’ debt load.

Via: The Blaze

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