Jamie's Blog

Kennedy Backs Health Care Reform and Bouts Own Illness

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:03:33 +0000

Senator Ted Kennedy is a rallying force for advocates of national health care reform. The cancer stricken Kennedy recently wrote in Newsweek “Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. Senators are entitled to”. The emotion-laden Democrat from Massachusetts is a symbol of this summer’s rolling reform debate.

The problem is not that too few Americans have access to the kind of care that Kennedy is receiving, but rather that too many Americans avail themselves of expensive treatments that may extend lives at the margins but have low prospects of actually saving them.

More Bank Failures, Analysts Say 150-200 Banks Could Fail

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:37:40 +0000

On Sunday, a prominent banking analyst said that 150 to 200 more U.S. banks could fail in the current banking crisis, and the industry’s payments to keep the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporaiton afloat could eat up 25 percent of pretax income in 2010.

Analysts say that this will likely force the FDIC, which insures deposits, to turn increasingly to non-U.S. banks and private equity funds to shore up the banking system. “The diffulty at the moment is finding enough healthy banks to buy the failing banks”, said Richard Bove of Rochdale Securities.

The FDIC is expected on August 26th to vote on relaxed guidelines for private equity firms to invest in failed banks, after critics said previously proposed rules were too harsh and would actually dissuade firms from making investments. “Perhaps another 150 to 200 banks will fail,” said Bove, and on top of 81 so far in 2009, adding stress to the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund. The fund has $13 Billion at the end of March.

Oil Prices Go Above $74 On Recovery Hopes

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 08:15:36 +0000

On Monday, Oil prices climbed above $74 a barrel in Asia amid spreading optimism about a global economic recovery. When Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke claimed the economy was on the rise, the markets rose up significantly and expectations that demands for energy will grow were spurred.

Benchmark crude for October rose 22 cents to $74.11 a barrel by midafternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, it jumped 98 cents to settle at $73.89. In more good news, the housing market is thriving according to the National Association of Realtors, with the largest monthly gain in ten years.

Apple Inc. Defies Recession

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:54:45 +0000

Apple Inc.’s stores are seemingly prosperous in this stubborn economy. Apple, based in Cupertino, California, increased revenue at its stores by 2.5 percent in the first six months of the year to $3 Billion as the rest of the retail industry suffered. During the same period, sales of all U.S. retailers fell 9.2 percent compared with the furst half of 2008, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

“Even if they are not spending money elsewhere, people are still spending money on technology gadgets,” said Patricia Edwards, a retail anlyst and founder of Storehouse Partners LLC in Bellevue, Washington. Apple’s shares have almost doubled this year. The stock climbed $2.89, or 1.7 percent, to $169.22 on August 21st in Nasdaq Stock Market Trading.

$750 Million IPO Filed By Dollar General

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:03:19 +0000

Dollar General, a discount retailer, filed to sell up to $750 million worth of stock in an initial public offering. The discount retailer is based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, which was brought by private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Coompany in 2007, operating 8.362 stores in 35 U.S. States. If the company raises the estimated amount, it would be on of the biggest IPO’s of the year.

KKR will underwrite the offering along with Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS) AND JPMorgan (JPM), among others. Dollar General said it will pay a “special dividend” of $200 Million to existing shareholders using cash generated from operations. It will also pay a $64 Million fee to KKR and Goldman for management and advisory services. The company has faired well in the horizon as consumers have become increasingly more bargain-minded.

Recovery Hopes Surge Market

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:51:33 +0000

Sotcks surged Friday with the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all ending at highs for 2009. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Barnanke said the economy is near a recovery and homes sales posted their biggest jump in two years. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) gained 156 points or 1.7% closing at the highest point since November 4th. The S&P (SPX) index added 19 points, or 1.9%, closing at the highest point since October 6th. The Nasdaq composite (COMP) rose 31 points, or 1.6% ending at the highest point since October 1st.

Investors welcomed a report that showed existing home sales that jumped for the fourth month in a row, rising well beyond forecasts. “It was basically higher than a year ago befoer the whole financial crisis, pre-Lehman”, said Stuart HOffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group. Gains were broad too, telling us that Chevron (CVX) Exxon Mobil (XOM) Boeing (BA) United Technologies (UTX) IBM (IBM) JPMorgan Chase (JPM) Caterpillar (CAT) and 3M (MMM) were rising, 29 of 30 shares that is.

The optimism is likely to spurt growth in the short term, as if enables investors to draw more cash out of money market funds and put it into riskier assets, said Mark Travis, president and CEO of Intrepid Capital Funds.

Pharma Wants Obama Insurance Reform

quickcap — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 01:33:44 +0000

Town Hall meetings recently have provided for a large debate concerning Health Care Reform, and whether or not the Health Care Bill will pass this year. Pharmaceutical companies are pouring $150 million into advertisements supporting the reform efforts, and the House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, issued an open letter in which he implired that drug campanies should halt this short-sighted, misguided campaign and listen to the American people, rather than continue to collaborate on an effort to spin them.

The truth is the drug industry is fundamentally different than is was in 1993, when Big Pharma was a powerful enemy of Hillary Clinton’s 1,000 page plan to reform health care. This time, drug companies aren’t likely to be hurt by any politically feasible plan and are unlikely to contribute to health care costs. A slew of new medicines, with advertising and a public faith in technology, led to a golden age of technology. Lipitor for example made $9 Billion in U.S. Sales in 2007, making it equivalent to Hollywood’s domestic box office that year.

Pharma has already been beaten down more than the rest of the health care sector, although still in a good place. Drugs are always needed in the economic shift, and it’s no wonder why drug companies have maneuvered themselves into finding reform efforts they can support.

President Kim Dae-jung Dies Sunday In South Korea

quickcap — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:59:03 +0000

South Korea said goodbye to President Kim Dae-jung in a passing and funeral that warms Korea relations. The Sunday afternoon ceremony was held outside parliament with a large portrait of Kim on a shrine surrounded by flowers. Disputed is his age at death of 85 or 83.

Kim was president from 1998 to 2003, and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for trying to foster better relations with North Korea. The highlight of his presidency to many is when he met with North Korean leader Kim Jong ll, becoming the first South Korean leader to do so since the Korean War unofficially ended in 1953.

Obama Pushes For Raise In U.S. College Education

quickcap — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:02:30 +0000

President Barack Obama pledged to boost the U.S. college graduation rate to first in the world, after years of stagnation, and announced a $12 billion plan to produce 5 million more community college grads by 2020. More than 6 million students are in community colleges currently.

Thirty percent of college and university students drop out after their first year. Half never graduate, and college completion rates in the U.S. have been stalled for more than three years. Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, said “The colleges want us to think everyone graduates but in fact a huge number don’t and many leave with significant loan debts and job skills inadequate for the 21st century.”

Many currently are pushing for President Obama to pay off current college loans as a stimulus package to the youth of America. A stimulus package to the youth of America is much deserved in this economy for struggling well educated individuals.

Obama May Abandon Health Care Plan With Republicans Sources Say

quickcap — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:50:53 +0000

President Barack Obama may end efforts to work with republicans on health-care legislation and press for a party-line vote if the stalemate on the issue of the U.S. Senate persists, a person close to the White House said today, on the basis of anonymity. Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Obama is losing patience with negotiation between three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Commitee, the only congressional panel seeking a bipartisan consensus on a plan to remake the nation’s health-care system.

A move by Democrats to seek a partisan bill may provoke a backlash from Republicans and weaken public support for the health-care overhaul, Obama’s top priority. It might result in watered down legislation. Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole told reporters earlier this summer that while he believed the Democrats could pass a bill on a party-line vote, it would be a mistake.