Kind of amazed Icahn apparently went after a very specific means to this self-enriching outcome without, say, having a lawyer confirm at some point that an executive order could accomplish the desired action and bypass the APA process.
I am trying to read but keep losing the thread of the actual story out of disgust at the (traditional) tongue bath given by a New Yorker journalist to an amoral rich person. 80% tongue, 20% acid is still pretty repulsive, especially when it keeps switching mid-paragraph.
2 I react the same way generally to mainstream NY journalism. I'm not aware of rich people being treated as some sort of positive celebrities just because they're rich anywhere I've lived, or anywhere else. It just underlines what a "company town" NYC is -- more of an industry town, and the industry is making money with money, and thus getting a piece of every dollar that changes hands anywhere on earth.
1: A big part of the story is that he clearly doesn't understand at all how the process works, so he isn't able to game it the way a more savvy operator would.
(Though I doubt he could find a lawyer who could credibly argue that this very in-the-weeds regulatory change could be accomplished through an executive order.)
It's well written and interesting... though the tone lurid mentions did tempt me to skim. Though the many asides about Trump letting Ichan use his things feels like the rich worship that the article wants us to feel--or perhaps just acknowledge.
It sounds like we may have been saved only because he was so dogged on his one issue (RINS credits) and rebuffed might decide it's too much work to actually change thins via government. After all, he can just use his shiny title as leverage without having to step outside his realm of money making and learn anything new.
The more effective way to do what Icahn was trying to do would be to convince Trump to issue an executive order directing Pruitt to review the whole Renewable Fuels Standard process to determine if it is effectively accomplishing its goals and whether the regulations governing it need to be revised. (This might even be a good idea on the merits; ethanol mandates are notoriously murky and may not do much environmental good on balance.) Then when the review determines that yes, they do need to be revised, and a docket is opened to revise them, Icahn's company could submit a bunch of comments arguing for its preferred change, and try to convince other industry stakeholders like the trade group guy to do the same. This would be a long, tedious process, though, and he might still lose out in the end.
Right. Yet another way governing is not a comparable skill to businessing.
7: It still wouldn't change the fact that Trump needs Iowa more than he needs Icahn if he wants to be reelected. I think that's the main reason the ethanol standards have been hard to change - as you note, the environmental impact of the mandates is dubious.
I would find it easier to be outraged out that if I wasn't (indirectly) one of the people being bought off.
The piece was awfully long and I am on my phone but I justwanted to say how much I liked this: "as part of America and Capitalism, you're the corpse being eviscerated so that he can have even one more kidney for his kidney collection. Enough kidneys, Carl." It's got a kind of gonzo horror/exasperated parent blend that somehow works really well.
Yeah, truly, heebie, that was perfect.
before I cared about ordinary americans I thought it was no big deal to build a kidney ziggurat in my back yard.
Trump pardoned Arpaio, maybe waiting for the hurricane (and the weekend) to make it less noticed.
I tried, little thread specifically created to discuss giant goatse-sized assholes, I tried.