The very prospect of healthcare reform seemed at peril last week, when the more moderate of two public option bills was defeated in the Senate Finance Committee. But according to a recent article in the Washington Post, Baucus now believes he has the capability to pass “a package of reforms that would extend coverage to [...]

The Schumer Amendment to Senator Baucus’ bill in the Senate Finance Committee has failed in a 15 – 8 vote. The Schumer amendment was the more conservative of the two public options in the committee, and was expected to garner some support from centrist Democrats. This is extremely significant as it suggests that the public [...]

After many years of delay, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has established a panel to determine whether or not human stem cell research will be funded out of their pocket. Though research has been continuing in this field throughout the Bush Administration, its impact was severely limited. As we have noted before, President Obama [...]

The Department of Health and Human services recently contracted five bio- pharmaceutical companies to develop huge doses of H1N1 Vaccine in preparation for this year’s flu season. The five lucky winners: Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), MedImmune, Australian drug maker CSL, and Sanofi-Pasteur. These companies have been receiving money since late last spring, when worry about the [...]

Officials at the Pentagon unanimously agreed today that they would drop the elaborate plan to build a missile defense system in Eastern Europe. Naturally, this was met with much criticism – but regardless of the new plan’s merits from a security standpoint, this has a profound impact on the defense sector. Unfortunately, this impact is [...]

President Obama’s recent 35% tariff on Chinese tires is prompting a lot of fuss over a possible trade war. It is true that this move is drawing scrutiny from Chinese officials and free trade activists alike, however it is unlikely that a protectionist trade war will emerge from this scenario. The market is simply not [...]

Political junkies and investors alike are paying a lot of interest to President Obama’s speech to the joint session of Congress tonight. Obviously, this is a unique opportunity for market speculation. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid both seemed confident – almost smug, really – about the public option after a meeting with the President yesterday. [...]

Obama is hoping to start this next session of Congress off with a bang tomorrow by delivering a groundbreaking speech on health insurance reform. However, it is unknown at this point how he will respond to the criticism these plans have taken over the last month. This Politico article lists his potential risks: …an intraparty [...]

Jim Cramer observed last week that with the passing of Ted Kennedy, the Democrats no longer have the filibuster-proof 60 votes they would need to pass a piece of healthcare legislation. And with that last vote, there goes their hope for reform. However, this thought process is somewhat erroneous. The Massachusetts state legislature only passed [...]

As you well know by now, Senator Ted Kennedy passed away last night at the age of 77. One of the most influential senators of our time, universal healthcare was “the cause of his life.” It is quite possible that this tragic loss will change the psychology behind the fractured Democratic party, prompting them to [...]