“The United States should establish a National Sustainability Policy and take additional steps to encourage federal agencies to collaborate on sustainability challenges that demand the expertise of many agencies, such as improving disaster resilience and managing ecosystems, says a new report from the National Research Council. Currently, the government is generally not organized to deal with the complex, long-term nature of sustainability challenges, the report says. Statutes and government culture encourage agencies to focus on a single area — energy, water, or health, for example — with little attention to how areas affect one another. This “stovepipe” or “silo” effect makes it difficult to address issues that cut across agency boundaries. “
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Daily Archives: July 1, 2013
Revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule Goes Into Effect Today
News release: “The Federal Trade Commission’s revised Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule took effect today, giving parents greater control over the online collection of their children’s personal information. The revised COPPA rule culminates more than two years of review by the agency to modernize the rule. The revised COPPA rule addresses changes in the… Continue Reading
McKinsey – Navigating the new era of Asian retail banking
‘Retail banking in Asia is on the cusp of a new era. By 2015, more personal financial assets will reside there than in Europe, making Asia the world’s second-largest wealth-management region, behind only the United States. Retail-banking revenue in Asia, growing at 9 percent a year since 2010, is expected to reach more than $900… Continue Reading
Banking Agencies Issue Host State Loan-to-Deposit Ratios
News release: “The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today issued the host state loan-to-deposit ratios that the banking agencies will use to determine compliance with section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994.… Continue Reading
EC Commission sends statement of objections to 13 investment banks, ISDA and Markit in credit default swaps investigation
News release: “The European Commission has informed some of the world’s largest investment banks of its preliminary conclusion that they infringed EU antitrust rules that prohibit anti-competitive agreements by colluding to prevent exchanges from entering the credit derivatives business between 2006 and 2009. The sending of a statement of objections does not prejudge the final… Continue Reading
EIA – The cement industry is the most energy intensive of all manufacturing industries
EIA Report – “The industrial sector, which encompasses manufacturing, mining, agriculture, and construction, accounted for almost a third of total U.S. energy use in 2012. Energy-intensive manufacturing accounted for a little more than half of total industrial energy use. Although the cement industry used only one-quarter of one percent of total U.S. energy, it is the… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Corporate Income Tax, Defense Suppliers, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
Corporate Income Tax, Effective Tax Rates (EFT) Can Differ Significantly from the Statutory Rate, GAO-13-520, May 30, 2013: “For tax year 2010 (the most recent information available), profitable U.S. corporations that filed a Schedule M-3 paid U.S. federal income taxes amounting to about 13 percent of the pretax worldwide income that they reported in their financial statements… Continue Reading
Libraries to help Americans learn more about their health care options
“Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) announced an initiative to get librarians ready to help people in every State learn about the new Health Insurance Marketplace. This initiative will provide public libraries with information about the health care law and connect librarians with… Continue Reading
Spiegel Online – “NSA Snoops on 500 Million German Data Connections”
By Laura Poitras, Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark: “America’s National Security Agency (NSA) is apparently spying on Germany more than previously believed. Secret documents from the US intelligence service, which have been viewed by SPIEGEL journalists, reveal that the NSA systematically monitors and stores a large share of the country’s telephone and Internet connection data.… Continue Reading
Report – Renewables to surpass gas by 2016 in the global power mix
“Power generation from hydro, wind, solar and other renewable sources worldwide will exceed that from gas and be twice that from nuclear by 2016, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today in its second annual Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report (MTRMR). According to the MTRMR, despite a difficult economic context, renewable power is expected to increase by… Continue Reading
Updated Web Tool Maps U.S. Food Access in Greater Detail
“Access to stores that carry healthy, affordable food can play an important role in people’s nutrition and overall health. Ensuring access to healthy food is a priority for USDA and a key component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Two years ago, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) first released the Food Desert Locator, an… Continue Reading
Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violence
“In 2010, more than 105,000 people were injured or killed in the United States as the result of a firearm-related incident. Recent, highly publicized, tragic mass shootings in Newtown, CT; Aurora, CO; Oak Creek, WI; and Tucson, AZ, have sharpened the American public’s interest in protecting our children and communities from the harmful effects of… Continue Reading
