Cap-and-Trade Website: Make Money by Going Green

When the House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act on June 26, it was a landmark moment for environmental politics. If the bill passes the Senate to become law — no sure thing, given the 60 votes needed in the upper chamber — it would establish the first national caps on carbon emissions. It would also create what would almost certainly be the world’s biggest greenhouse-gas market, since companies would have the option to buy and sell carbon credits and offsets.

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Thailand cracks down on elephant begging

A lumbering grey shadow can often catch your eye as you drive along one of Bangkok’s most polluted and congested streets, Sukhumvit. If this were not Bangkok, you would think you’d had one too many beer Singhas, but in this city of contradictions, anything seems, and often is, possible. And so it is that spotting a huge elephant, dodging the tuk-tuk motorcycle rickshaws, the ubiquitous taxis and blizzard of traffic is nothing out of the ordinary.

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What Happened to the Stimulus?

Fueled by Coke Zero and a double-chocolate protein bar, Vice President Joe Biden is roiling, ranting, being his usual self. Five mayors and county executives listen in silence on the other end of a White House speakerphone as the Delaware ear bender tries to ride herd on the stampede for dollars known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the $787 billion monster that is the largest domestic-spending effort in U.S

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Depp channels inner outlaw in ‘Public Enemies’

He’s been a homicidal singing barber in "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," and an drunken swashbuckler in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End." Now, Hollywood shape-shifter Johnny Depp is back as another unexpectedly charismatic outlaw: Depression-era bank robber, John Dillinger, a character he says he’s been drawn to since he was a boy. “I sort of had a fascination with John Dillinger when I was about 10, 11 years old, for some reason,” Depp told CNN. “I always kind of admired him, oddly.” Oddly, perhaps, because for a short but intense period between September 1933 and July 1934 Dillinger and his gang rampaged through the American Midwest, staging jail breaks, robbing banks and killing 10 men and wounding seven along the way

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Why VW and Porsche are On a Collision Course

Over the past few days, the German luxury automaker Porsche has moved into high gear with the launch of its latest model, the Panamera, a 4-door, 4-seater sedan that it hopes will reverse flagging sales and maintain its status as the world’s most profitable auto maker. But even as the motoring press descends on Stuttgart to test drive the new car, the Panamera launch is being overshadowed by a bizarre feud in the company’s founding family that is starting to damage both Porsche and its sister company, VW. It’s a nasty, vindictive battle that, in keeping with bad cases of sibling rivalry, risks spiraling out of control and hurting everyone involved, including the shareholders, customers and workers at the two German automakers.

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Dumbing Down Regulation

If only our financial regulations were dumber! It’s not a cry you hear often. But phrased a little differently, it may be the most cogent criticism of the convoluted regulatory approach of recent decades–and one that applies to most of the Obama Administration’s financial-reform proposals. The argument goes like this: the biggest flaw in current financial regulation is not that there is too little of it or too much, but that it relies on regulators knowing best.

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