Media Navel Gaze: July 1, 2013
The Week Unpeeled
Big news -- and nothingvery ordinary -- filled the headlines every day last week, from Supreme Court decisions to climate change to immigration to spy watching to a little Fed talk/market volatility/bond swings. Perhaps most “historic” were decisions by the Court that lifted bans on federal same-sex benefits, striking down DOMA. Also, before the bench recessed this summer, the Court “Upends Voting Rights Act” (WSJ), meaning no federal approval needed to change voting laws, a move that may end up challenging some civil liberty issues.
Elsewhere:
- Stocks “suffered” through a volatile week, with the Dow ending Friday at 114, that’s down 1.4 percent for June but up 14 percent for the year, battered recently at times by concerns that Fed’s easy money stance may be stiffening;
- The economy expanded at a slightly slower pace than had been reported, with growth up only 1.8 percent versus 2.4 percent, hurt by consumer spending;
- President Obama unveiled a new plan to limit greenhouse gases, met by quite a bit of skepticism, but designed to advance his stated goal of reducing overall emission reductions by 17 percent by 2020;
- The Senate passed the immigration bill, which grants legal status to 11 million illegals; now on to the House for a fight;
- Steve Cohen decided not to testify in front of the grand jury in the government’s insider-trading investigation against his fund, SAC Capital; Sponsors continued to cut ties to Paula Dean (can you believe how many she had?), including the publisher of her new book; and
- Leaker Snowden remained on the lam, as interest in the story seemed to be waning…for now.
