Page 32 - Brad Plumer News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

By Victor Thorn The public must pressure its elected officials to address a growing concern that current government assessments of the unemployment rate are not accurate at all. Much ado was made in the media that unemployment dropped to 8.3 percent in January, but there are more than a few informed observers who say the manner in which the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) compiles its monthly unemployment figures is more akin to a shell game than a reliable reflection of working conditions in this country. Critics hark back to the old saying: “There are liars, damn liars and then there are...

How Trump’s Legacy Gets Undone Joe Biden’s climate team will be the largest ever in the White House Jan. 20, 2021 remove planet-warming carbon from the atmosphere. Image By Lisa Friedman This afternoon the new president of the United States, Joe Biden, will start signing a raft of executive orders to undo President Trump’s legacy, including on climate. In addition to rejoining the Paris Agreement, Mr. Biden intends to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit in his first hours in office. In the following days, Mr. Biden will issue a series of executive orders that start the proce...

The Capitol Riot and Climate Disinformation They’re more closely related than you might think Jan. 13, 2021 sharp decline in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and a 2020 temperature record. How the riot ties in with climate disinformation By John Schwartz Last week, a mob incited by President Trump stormed the United States Capitol building. Rioters broke windows, beat law enforcement officers, vandalized offices and tried to track down members of Congress with mayhem in mind. At least five people died. For those of us who cover climate change for a living, the blatant lies about election frau...

values. It is separate from the newsroom. Dec. 28, 2020 Credit...Illustration by Michael Houtz; photographs by Getty Images As President-elect Joe Biden rolls out his climate and environment team, it is worth recalling, if only to grasp the distance between then and now, the hopeless bunch President-elect Donald Trump presented us with four years ago. Mr. Trump tapped Scott Pruitt to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Ryan Zinke the Interior Department and Rick Perry the Energy Department. Mr. Pruitt, by common consent the worst of the mediocrities in Mr. Trump’s cabinet, helped persu...

Threatened regularly now, but do you know how the debt limit really works? joining me is the washington post's brad plumer who knows everything about the debt ceiling. brad, a welcome to you. i first want to start with the simple stuff here, explain for our viewers what exactly the debt ceiling is and why october 17th is the deadline. >> thank you. basically the government only has enough tax revenue to only pay about 80% of its bills this year. so it has to borrow the rest to pay for all the spending that congress has approved. and congress has set a limit for how much borrowing it can actual...