Sep 25, 2019 - Energy & Environment

How the U.S. oil boom echoes through the economy

Ben Geman, author of Generate

A BP oil refinery in California. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

A new Dallas Fed note explores a metric of what the shale-driven U.S. production surge has meant for the wider economy.

What they found: "The share of the upstream oil and gas sector in the level of U.S. nonresidential fixed investment doubled from 3.4 percent in the decade before the shale oil boom to an average of 6.4 percent since 2008."

But, but, but: That can cut both ways, because investment levels are sensitive to oil price movements.

  • "While contributing positively to investment growth most of the time, upstream oil and gas became a drag from roughly 2014 to 2016 when oil prices fell about 50 percent," the report states.

Go deeper: BP CEO: "Remarkable" that prices stabilized so fast after Saudi oil attack

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Fracking has become a flashpoint in the election's final week, particularly in Pennsylvania where both President Trump and Joe Biden made stops on Monday. But much of the political rhetoric has ignored that the industry has gone from boom to bust, beset by layoffs, bankruptcies and fire-sale mergers.

Axios Re:Cap digs into the state of fracking, and what it means for the future of American energy, with Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group.

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57 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Democrats sound alarm on mail-in votes

Photo: Mark Makela/Getty Images

Democrats are calling a last-minute audible on mail-in voting after last night's Supreme Court ruling on Wisconsin.

Driving the news: Wisconsin Democrats and the Democratic secretary of state of Michigan are urging voters to return absentee ballots to election clerks’ offices or drop boxes. They are warning that the USPS may not be able to deliver ballots by the Election Day deadline.

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Orion Rummler
1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

Nxivm cult leader Keith Raniere sentenced to life in prison

Carts full of court documents related to the U.S. v. Keith Raniere case arrive at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in May 2019. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Nxivm cult leader Keith Raniere, 60, was sentenced to 120 years in prison on Tuesday in federal court for sex trafficking among other crimes, the New York Times reports.

Catch up quick: Raniere was convicted last summer with sex trafficking, conspiracy, sexual exploitation of a child, racketeering, forced labor and possession of child pornography. His so-called self-improvement workshops, which disguised rampant sexual abuse, were popular among Hollywood and business circles.

Go deeper (<1 min. read)Arrow