Welcome to The WonkLine, a daily 10 a.m. roundup of the latest news about health care, the economy, national security, immigration and climate policy. This is what we’re reading. Tell us what you found in the comments section below, and subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, you can now follow The Wonk Room on Twitter.
Economy
The U.S. apartment vacancy rate has reached 7.8 percent, a 23-year high, “as rising unemployment continued to chip away at demand during the traditionally strong summer rental months.” Calculated Risk reacts: “Rising vacancies. Falling Rents. Here comes the Fed’s nightmare.”
Yesterday, Australia “became the first advanced economy to raise interest rates since the global financial crisis and promised more rises to come, boldly declaring the risk of recession over.”
Ian Bremmer and Nouriel Roubini lay out how the Fed can prevent the next bubble, which in part necessitates the Fed finding “a greater regulatory backbone.”
Immigration
Today, the Obama administration will unveil an outline of reforms to the nation’s immigration-detention system, saying it will decide whom to lock up and for how long based on the danger and flight risk posed by detainees.
Federal authorities from the Department of Justice will start investigating allegations of “discriminatory policing” by the Suffolk County Police Department in Long Island, New York following a surge in hate crimes in recent years.
The Miami Herald reports that the economic recession has caused a reverse of findings from last year which revealed that new immigrants were assimilating more quickly than immigrants a century ago.
Climate Change
Yesterday, the International Energy Agency reported that richer emerging economies must stop increasing their use of fossil fuels by 2020 and “$10.5 trillion extra energy investment would be needed from 2010-2030 to control carbon emissions.”
President Obama signed a new executive order on Monday mandating agencies across the federal government “set a goal within 90 days for cutting their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.”
Google Inc. teamed up with Energy Inc. to create a energy monitoring system that doesn’t require a smart meter but still allows consumers to monitor energy use via free Google software.
National Security
The Associated Press reports that “Hamas leaders stepped up their verbal assault of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, saying they no longer considered him a Palestinian after he agreed to suspend efforts to pursue Israel for possible war crimes in Gaza.”
VOA reports that “the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for the suicide bombing at the United Nations food agency’s headquarters in Islamabad a day earlier that killed five employees and wounded five others.”
The Christian Science Monitor reports “US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has urged the international community to be vigilant in their dealings with Iranian banks, citing ‘money laundering and terror financing risks.’”
Health Care
The New York Times observes that “as Democrats prepare to take up health care legislation on the floor of the Senate and the House, they are facing tough choices about two competing priorities.”
Despite the August Tea Parties, more Americans’ now support the passage of a new health care reform bill. “When the leanings of those without an opinion are taken into account, 51% of Americans favor or lean toward favoring a bill, while 41% oppose it or lean toward opposition — a more sizeable gap in favor than three weeks ago”
Jonathan Cohn explains that “to be effective, Exchanges need bargaining power.”
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