News Analysis: A ?Unique Opportunity? on the Debt Ceiling, Lost

Instead, it is shaping up to be a lost opportunity.

Whatever deal Congress and President Obama devise in this final week to allow the government to keep paying its bills after Aug. 2 and avert an economy-rattling default, it almost certainly will fall short of the compromise that Mr. Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, nearly struck last week ? before details of the negotiations leaked, opponents in both parties protested and Mr. Boehner left the table.

The difference between that attempted ?grand bargain? and what Congress is coming up with is not just a matter of dollars. Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner did tentatively agree to more than $3 trillion in savings over 10 years ? at least hundreds of billions more than is called for in the fallback plans now bandied about in Congress to clear the way for a vote to increase the $14.3 trillion borrowing ceiling by next Tuesday.

But the more significant difference is in where the savings would come from. The Congressional proposals mainly seek caps on annual spending for domestic and military programs and no additional revenues.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner tentatively agreed to raise $800 billion in revenues after 2013 by overhauling the tax code and getting significant future savings from Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security ? the entitlement programs whose growth as the population ages is driving long-term projections of unsustainable debt. While Republicans rebelled at the idea of tax increases, the package?s total spending cuts exceeded new revenues by more than three to one.

The Obama-Boehner package still could serve as the basis for a bigger and more comprehensive debt-reduction deal. But that probably would not be before the 2012 elections, people in both parties say, given House Republicans? unyielding stand against higher taxes.

More likely, they say, the debate over what Mr. Boehner called their ?different visions for our country? will define next year?s elections, along with the blame game if the two parties remain at loggerheads. How it plays out could determine both Mr. Boehner?s future as speaker and Mr. Obama?s as president.

Each believed his party would benefit politically by a comprehensive deal, not least by easing many Americans? pox-on-both-your-houses frustration with Washington gridlock ? a threat to incumbents ? and by avoiding blame for an economic crisis.

And while Mr. Obama also seeks to appeal to independent voters who make the difference in presidential elections, many Democrats complain he is too willing to compromise, potentially disillusioning their party?s voters and muddying the case against Republicans for proposing much deeper entitlement program cuts. Mr. Boehner?s problem is that some otherwise persuadable Republicans worry less about the general election than party primaries, and fear they could draw a conservative rival by supporting a deal with Mr. Obama.

?If that means more to you than getting a plan and stabilizing this economy, you?ve really got to wonder why you?re there,? said Alan K. Simpson, a former Senate Republican leader who was a co-chairman of the bipartisan fiscal commission Mr. Obama set up last year.

A package like the one Mr. Obama and Mr. Boehner were discussing would be the most ambitious deficit-reduction effort in memory. Former Republican lawmakers who fought in the deficit-cutting wars of the 1980s and 1990s, including Mr. Simpson, express puzzlement or dismay at House Republicans? willingness to let the tax issue stop them from taking Mr. Obama?s offers on reducing entitlement spending, especially since the new revenues would flow from an overhaul of the tax code that would lower most rates.

?If I were there,? said Mickey Edwards, a House Republican leader in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, ?I would say, ?My God, declare victory.? ?

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Google's Street View cars collect locations of Wi-Fi devices

Google is back in the hot seat today following a CNET report that suggests the search giant's Street View cars collected the locations of countless Wi-Fi devices. Along with mapping Wi-Fi access points (the intended purpose), the vehicles also charted the street addresses and unique identifiers of wireless Internet devices such as laptops and smartphones -- a practice that has been confirmed by the CNIL (France's data privacy commission).

What's worse, the search giant reportedly releases that information online, and you can't opt out of it. Harvested MAC addresses and their last known coordinates are published on the company's public geolocation database for all to access. Although this isn't inherently dangerous (it's effectively just a snapshot of where your device last was, so it's not like someone can stalk you with the information), it still raises valid privacy concerns.

For instance, someone could use the data to show you were at a specific place during a specific time, and that's something you might not want to share with the world. The Internet exploded earlier this year when it was discovered that Apple's iOS devices recorded a year's worth of location data that could be mapped to show your previous whereabouts. The company later released a software update that minimized users' biggest complaints.

And of course, isn't the first time Google's Street View cars have been caught gathering more information than intended. The company faced worldwide investigations, raids and even a $143,000 fine from France after it was discovered that the company "accidentally" collected private information from Wi-Fi networks, including emails, fragments of visited websites and passwords. The US FTC dropped its Wi-Fi sniffing investigation last October.

Google has remained incredibly quiet about the latest controversy, declining CNET's requests for comment. The site asked Google more than a dozen questions on the subect over the span of several months and the search company hasn't answered many, if any of them. "It would be helpful to have some clarity about why and how (a hardware address) got in there so people can act accordingly," said security researcher Ashkan Soltani.

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Google's Street View cars collect locations of Wi-Fi devices

Google is back in the hot seat today following a CNET report that suggests the search giant's Street View cars collected the locations of countless Wi-Fi devices. Along with mapping Wi-Fi access points (the intended purpose), the vehicles also charted the street addresses and unique identifiers of wireless Internet devices such as laptops and smartphones -- a practice that has been confirmed by the CNIL (France's data privacy commission).

What's worse, the search giant reportedly releases that information online, and you can't opt out of it. Harvested MAC addresses and their last known coordinates are published on the company's public geolocation database for all to access. Although this isn't inherently dangerous (it's effectively just a snapshot of where your device last was, so it's not like someone can stalk you with the information), it still raises valid privacy concerns.

For instance, someone could use the data to show you were at a specific place during a specific time, and that's something you might not want to share with the world. The Internet exploded earlier this year when it was discovered that Apple's iOS devices recorded a year's worth of location data that could be mapped to show your previous whereabouts. The company later released a software update that minimized users' biggest complaints.

And of course, isn't the first time Google's Street View cars have been caught gathering more information than intended. The company faced worldwide investigations, raids and even a $143,000 fine from France after it was discovered that the company "accidentally" collected private information from Wi-Fi networks, including emails, fragments of visited websites and passwords. The US FTC dropped its Wi-Fi sniffing investigation last October.

Google has remained incredibly quiet about the latest controversy, declining CNET's requests for comment. The site asked Google more than a dozen questions on the subect over the span of several months and the search company hasn't answered many, if any of them. "It would be helpful to have some clarity about why and how (a hardware address) got in there so people can act accordingly," said security researcher Ashkan Soltani.

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/44810-googles-street-view-cars-collect-locations-of-wi-fi-devices.html

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Intel replicates 320 Series 8MB bug, promises firmware update

A couple weeks ago, Intel confirmed the existence of a flaw that could cause heavy data losses on its new 320 Series solid-state drives. Referred to as the "8MB bug" among users, the glitch reportedly reduces a drive's full capacity to only 8MB following a sudden loss of power. At the time, it was unclear whether the flaw could be fixed with a simple firmware update or if it was a permanent hardware defect.

Intel offered a progress update yesterday to say that it has isolated the "Bad Context 13x Error" and will resolve the issue with a firmware update. No release date was given, but it shouldn't be long from now. It's to be expected that a company will downplay product defects like this, but if it's any consolation, Intel says the bug only affects a "small percentage" of drives in "certain circumstances" after a power loss.

It's still unclear if data on the drive is recoverable after the bug rears its head, but many users have regained use of their SSD by reformatting it with a third-party utility. Assuming you practice habitual backups, that's just a minor inconvenience, but if your bugged 320 Series drive contains irreplaceable data, you might want to leave it on a shelf until more details emerge (and reassess your backup procedure).

If you own a 320 Series drive but haven't experienced the issue, Intel has offered a few tips to keep you safe(r) until the firmware update arrives. Again (in case this hasn't sunk in yet), make frequent backups of essential data. The company also suggests that you use your system's standard shutdown process -- i.e. don't instantly cut the electricity by unplugging the power cable or flipping the PSU switch.

In that same vein, the company says you shouldn't unplug the SSD while your computer is on. Although this isn't Intel's recommendation, you might want to attach your system to an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) if power outages are common in your area. It's also worth noting that the retail 320 Series drives ship with a five-year warranty, so you shouldn't have any problems getting a dud replaced.

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House Leaders Call for Short-Term Rise in Debt Ceiling

House Republican leaders pushed for a vote Wednesday on a two-step plan that would allow the federal debt limit to immediately be raised by about $1 trillion and tie a second increase next year to the ability of a new joint Congressional committee to produce more deficit reduction.

But top Senate Democrats called the proposal a ?non-starter? and said they would advance their own plan to reduce the deficit by $2.7 trillion and raise the debt ceiling until after next year?s elections, saying it met the conditions that Republicans had laid down during the ongoing debt fight.

?We?re about to go over a cliff here,? Senator Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat who serves as majority leader, said Monday afternoon as he outlined his proposal.

He said that Republicans were essentially attempting to embarass President Obama in the middle of the 2012 election year by forcing another debt limit showdown and that Democrats would not go along with any plan that does not guarantee a debt limit increase through next year.

The plan assembled by Mr. Reid quickly received the president?s endorsement. Over the next ten years, it would cut $1.2 trillion from federal agency budgets and wring some savings from recurring programs such agriculture subsidies. The proposal also counts about $1 trillion in savings from winding down combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan ? a point likely to encounter resistance from Republicans who brand such savings as gimmicks.

Hoping to beat the Senate to the punch, the House Republican leadership was trying to sell its plan to the party membership in the hopes of forcing it through the House by Wednesday.

The proposal would cut current spending and put legal limits on future spending, saving what Republicans estimate to be about $1.2 trillion over 10 years. That approach would allow a debt limit increase that would extend into early next year.

At the same time, a new 12-member committee evenly divided among Democrats and Republicans would be assigned the job of finding another $1.8 trillion in savings. The panel would have special privileges to bring legislation before the House and Senate and its proposal would not be subjected to amendment or Senate filibuster. If the plan passed, the president could seek another $1.6 trillion increase in the debt limit based on the new committee?s proposal.

The prospect of a potential second Congressional fight over a debt limit increase if the committee fails to deliver is likely to be a major sticking point with Congressional Democrats and the White House, who want a guaranteed debt limit increase through 2012.

House Republicans hope to win approval of their plan as early as Wednesday, putting pressure on the Senate, where Democrats will have to round up 60 votes to make any progress on their own plan. Senate Democrats were scheduled to formally issue their plan later Monday.

Under the House Republican plan, members of the Senate and House would also be required to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution after October 1 but before the end of the year.

White House officials mostly were spectators as Congressional leaders in both parties and both chambers sought a fall-back measure that could attract enough votes to pass in the coming week. While his top advisers continued to monitor and try to shape developments, Mr. Obama, although he cancelled some fundraising appearances, was momentarily back to a more routine schedule than he has maintained in days since the debt-limit talks consumed his time. He spoke to an influential Latino group, the National Council of La Raza, released a policy to fight transnational organized crime and honored the World Series champion, the San Francisco Giants, at the White House.

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Legal Memo: The 14th Amendment, the Debt Ceiling and a Way Out

He pointed to an obscure provision in the 14th Amendment, saying he would unilaterally invoke it ?without hesitation? to raise the debt ceiling, ?and force the courts to stop me.?

On Friday, Mr. Obama rejected the idea, though not in categorical terms.

?I have talked to my lawyers,? Mr. Obama said. ?They are not persuaded that that is a winning argument.?

Adding another element of uncertainty, and possible court battles, to the debate do not seem to appeal to the White House. And it is, in any event, not clear that the nation?s creditors would continue to lend money to the United States were the president to take unilateral action.

The provision in question, Section 4 of the amendment, was meant to ensure the payment of Union debts after the Civil War and to disavow Confederate ones. But it was written in broader terms.

?The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,? the critical sentence says, ?shall not be questioned.?

The Supreme Court has said in passing that those words have outlived the historical moment that gave rise to them.

?While this provision was undoubtedly inspired by the desire to put beyond question the obligations of the government issued during the Civil War,? Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes wrote for the court in 1935, ?its language indicates a broader connotation.?

In recent weeks, law professors have been trying to puzzle out the meaning and relevance of the provision. Some have joined Mr. Clinton in saying it allows Mr. Obama to ignore the debt ceiling. Others say it applies only to Congress and only to outright default on existing debts. Still others say the president may do what he wants in an emergency, with or without the authority of the 14th Amendment.

The words of the provision are in important ways quite vague. ?Nobody would argue,? said Sanford Levinson, a law professor at the University of Texas, ?that Section 4 is clear in its meaning, other than at the time everyone thought that the South, if they ever got back in control, would not pay Civil War debt.?

But Jack M. Balkin, a law professor at Yale, said it was possible to infer a broader principle.

?You?re not supposed to hold the validity of the public debt hostage to achieve political ends,? Mr. Balkin said. He added, though, that ?Section 4 is a fail-safe that only comes into operation when everything else is exhausted.?

Mr. Obama?s statement largely dismissing the possibility of invoking the provision may have had a strategic element to it. A deficit reduction deal would seem to be more likely, after all, if both sides thought there was no alternative but economic chaos.

Mr. Obama?s reference to ?a winning argument? suggested the likelihood that the courts would weigh in if he took unilateral action. But that is not certain.

?This is not a circumstance,? said Laurence H. Tribe, a law professor at Harvard, ?in which the courts have any plausible point of entry.?

Professor Balkin agreed. ?This is largely a political question,? he said. ?It is unlikely courts would decide these questions.?

Some law professors have put forward possible legal claims that might overcome threshold requirements for lawsuits, like the one in which plaintiffs show that they have been directly injured and so have standing to sue. ?It?s unthinkable,? Professor Tribe responded, ?that the courts would allow a gimmicky lawsuit to proceed.?

The president, moreover, can move quickly, but court cases take time. ?At the point at which the economy is melting down, who cares what the Supreme Court is going to say?? Professor Balkin said. ?It?s the president?s duty to save the Republic.?

Another possible reaction to unilateral action from Mr. Obama is impeachment. Professor Tribe said that was ?not politically a very plausible scenario.?

Professor Levinson was less certain. Impeachment by the House of Representatives ?seems to me quite likely.? But, he added, ?it is also literally unimaginable that the Senate would convict.?

A third possible response is what some law professors call ?popular constitutionalism.? The meaning of the Constitution, these professors say, is in the end what the public believes it to be. The president and members of Congress may thus pay a political price for taking stands at odds with what the public understands to be their constitutional obligations.

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With Washington at Impasse, Worry Over Investor Reaction

?We may have a few stressful days coming up ? stressful for the markets of the world and the American people,? William M. Daley, the chief of staff for Mr. Obama, said on CBS?s ?Face the Nation? Sunday morning.

Early response to the gridlock on Monday indicated continuing worries in global markets, with the dollar losing ground to an index of currencies, United States stocks declining and gold, deemed a safe investment during times of uncertainty, rising.

For weeks, the market for United States Treasuries ? long considered the world?s ultimate safe haven ? has held relatively steady.

?It wouldn?t be surprising to see a little bit of global reaction to the fact that there?s no sign of an agreement. A sell-off of maybe 1 to 2 percent,? said Fred H. Dickson, chief investment strategist at the Davidson Companies, a brokerage and money management firm in Montana.

It is too soon to know how the stalled progress will play out in the markets all week and whether selling might be even greater.

The Treasury Department has said that the government must reach a deal by Aug. 2 or risk being unable to temporarily meet all its obligations like interest payments on debt, Social Security or paychecks to federal workers.

Few investors believe the United States will renege on its debt. Analysts point out that the government has neared the brink on reaching crucial financial agreements in the past without marketwide collapse. Still, the greatest anxiety in the markets is that investors will lose confidence in Treasuries and move toward selling them, which would drive their values down and their rates up.

John Canavan, a market analyst at Stone & McCarthy Research, a research firm in Princeton, N.J., said that he thinks investors might sell some United States bonds to buy German bonds, or assets in Asia and emerging markets. Foreign investors, he noted, own a far greater share of United States debt than was the case several decades ago.

?They don?t hold them because they have any patriotism or anything else and they?re going to be quick to unload them if they feel there is danger to hold them,? Mr. Canavan said.

Mr. Canavan did not miss a beat when asked when investors would become more nervous. ?Now,? he said. ?There has been this expectation that at some point, they?d come up with a deal, but given the failure this weekend, I think market confidence is eroding.?

It is often difficult to contemporaneously pinpoint when a panic begins. The financial crisis of 2008, for instance, is often dated to the summer of 2007, but it did not result in full-fledged market chaos for more than a year. During that time, many government officials said the situation was under control.

The situation in the United States does carry some of the classic ingredients for flurries of selling, financial historians said. Panics sometimes occur when an asset that is considered perfectly safe comes into question. Other conditions for financial mayhem include excessive speculation in a sort of investment ? often one thought to be very safe ? and sometimes low interest rates.

Some financial historians also believe the markets have become more panic-prone than they once were, in part because of the mass of cash that has poured in recent decades into short-term investments like money market funds.

The current situation is unusual, though, in an important way, said David A. Moss, an economic policy professor at Harvard Business School. Treasuries, he said, are the typical safe haven during a panic, so people might not run away from them.

Mr. Moss said that the outcome could be that there is a ?mad rush? out of Treasuries, or it also might be that ?people aren?t sure what to do, so they just stay there.?

Treasuries have been at the center of panics in the United States before, though far earlier in American history. Richard Sylla, a finance professor at the Stern School of Business of New York University who has written about panics, pointed to 1792, when one Treasury trader ran into problems and sent the market into a spiral in which it lost 25 percent of its value.

About 100 years later, Congress had to call an emergency session because the Treasury was running out of gold reserves as foreign investors redeemed dollars for gold, Mr. Sylla said.

?Today we talk about what happens if the Chinese sell all the U.S. securities; in 1893, foreign investors were doing just that,? Mr. Sylla said.

Mr. Sylla?s initial assessment of the current situation was, ?They?re playing with fire in Washington, D.C., right now.?

Or as the chief of fixed income at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, Kevin Flanagan, said: ?When you?re a bond guy, the thought of default is like Kryptonite. It?s a word you just don?t want to hear.?

Still, perhaps because no one likes to talk in earnest about possible panics, Mr. Moss, Mr. Sylla and Mr. Flanagan said they did think a deal would be reached in Washington before Aug. 2. That would avoid even a technical default, which is a short-term, nonpermanent default that could occur if the government had to delay some payments temporarily while it wrapped up a budget deal.

In addition to watching market signals like interest rates on Treasuries, traders said they were eager to see whether the Treasury Department would announce on Monday that it will decrease the size of this week?s auction of new Treasury securities. The department has been decreasing the size of its weekly auction over the last month, to give it more flexibility if the debt limit is not increased by next week.

Mr. Moss of the Harvard Business School said he did not think that many people were thinking that the nation might enter into an all-out default on its debt and refuse to pay it. But he said a panic could ?take on a life of its own? if the Aug. 2 deadline passed, for instance, and if contracts that relied on securities had to be unwound.

When it comes to regular investors, David B. Armstrong, a financial adviser in the Washington area, is not seeing much panic. Of his 125 clients, two called him last week, but none called over the weekend.

?People don?t seem to think that it will end in a default,? said Mr. Armstrong, a managing director of Monument Wealth Management. ?Everybody?s talking about it, but no one is panicking about it.?

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Hardware 25 - What, no Tanks?

Hardware 25 - What, no Tanks?

Posted on 8th Jul 2011 at 14:20 by Podcast with 11 comments

It's been a while since our last podcast so James, Paul, Antony and Harry had plenty to talk about when they took their seats in the studio this week.

First on the agenda was James and Paul's trip to Computex in Taiwan, where they got to see what the industry had planned for the next six months. Certain things were of particular interest to us though such as the LGA2011 boards being shown at the exhibition.

The other big slice of news that's hit since our last podcast is the launch of AMD's new desktop Lynx processors. The APUs (as AMD calls them) are potentially interesting for those looking for a low cost rig that's also capable of gaming.

Finally, we sneak in a little discussion about Intel's new 50-core maths co-processor card and attempt to answer a reader question about thermal compound.

As always, we've also set up our weekly competition, the lucky winner of which will walk away with a brand new Corsair VX550W PSU.

Hardware 25 - What, no Tanks?

As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Gaming 29 - The Post-Pub Podcast

Gaming 29 - The Post-Pub Podcast

Posted on 17th Jul 2011 at 08:23 by Podcast with 14 comments

Custom PC veteran Phil Hartup and PC Pro's Mike Jennings join Joe and Paul for a late-night, post-pint rant. This episode of the podcast, perhaps because it's sponsored by alcohol, stumbles along with vague coherency through topics such as BioShock Infinite and Just Cause 2.

Mass Effect 2 is obligatorily drawn into the discussion too, as is tradition.

Boozy fumes aren't enough to stop us tackling the thorny issues, however - Phil explains why he expects Battlefield 3 will be a shoddy console port, while Joe shoots down the defence that 64-player multiplayer is something to be proud of.

*hic*


On top of that, Phil brings us a report on how APB: Reloaded is faring after being brought back from the dead, while Joe orates further on his favourite topic of the moment; Frozen Synapse.

As always, we've also got our weekly competition, which this time gives you a chance to win yourself a copy of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood on the PC and Raving Rabbids on the Nintendo 3DS. You can also find out who won the last competition and bagged themselves a Roccat Vire Gaming Headset.

As ever, the bit-tech hardware podcast features music by Brad Sucks, and was recorded on Shure microphones. You can download the podcast direct, listen in-browser or subscribe through iTunes using the links below. Also, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the discussion in the forums.

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Cheap Plastic Made from Sugarcane

Making plastic from sugar can be just as cheap as making it from petroleum, says Dow Chemical. The company plans to build a plant in Brazil that it says will be the world's largest facility for making polymers from plants. 

The project will begin with the construction of a 240-million-liter ethanol plant, a joint venture with Mitsui, that is set to begin later this year. By the beginning of next year, Dow will finish engineering plans for facilities that will convert that ethanol into hundreds of thousands of metric tons of polyethylene, the world's most widely used plastic.

Bio-based chemicals production has grown quickly in recent years, but it still represents just 7.7 percent of the overall chemicals market. Production has been limited in many cases to specialty chemicals or niche products. But Dow now says chemicals made from plant feedstocks may be ready to compete head-to-head with those made from petrochemicals made in large volumes.

Most large-volume chemicals are made from petroleum. About 80 million tons of polyethylene are made annually around the world. But high oil prices have increased the costs of petrochemicals. And in Brazil, long-standing government support for sugarcane ethanol production has allowed the industry to drive down costs, making ethanol competitive with fossil fuels. Making polyethylene from sugar "would not necessarily be attractive in other regions," says Luis Cirihal, Dow's director of renewable alternatives and business development for Latin America.

The technology for converting ethanol into ethylene, the precursor for polyethylene, is not new. "The dehydration process for converting ethanol to ethylene has been known since the 1920s. The only thing that's really new here is the scale," Cirihal says. The new plant will have a polyethylene production capacity comparable to production at a petrochemical plant. Though the exact production levels aren't yet settled, they will be on the order of "what you have heard before," he says, referring to a proposed Dow project that would have made 350,000 metric tons of polyethylene from sugarcane. (That proposal relied on a partnership that ended as a result of the recession.) It will be bigger than a 200,000-ton sugarcane-to-polyethylene plant operated by Brazil-based Braskem.

The new plant won't be the first time Dow has invested significantly in bio-based plastics. A decade ago, it partnered with Cargill to make corn-based plastics. But Dow pulled out of that venture in 2005 after the market for the bioplastic failed to take off. Cirihal says that Dow is now taking a different approach. The earlier plastic was a new material, and proved difficult to market and distribute. He says that's why Dow decided to make a common material with an established market this time. The sugarcane-based polyethylene will perform just as well as oil-based polyethylene, he says.

Cirihal says Dow is keeping costs down by doing every part of the process, from growing the sugarcane to producing the polymers. This makes it possible, for example, to provide energy to run the plant with biomass left over from producing sugar from sugarcane. While he says the plastics produced will be competitive with petrochemicals, he also says the company hopes to charge more for the product because of the significant demand for low-carbon, sustainable materials.

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