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Monthly Archives: February 2010

Obama Versus Insurers

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 10:07 am

By Max Fisher of The Atlantic Wire President Obama has proposed a bold idea for health care reform: giving the federal government the power to regulate insurance premium increases. The ...
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Airgas Plays M&A Poker (ARG, APD)

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 8:47 am

Airgas, Inc. (NYSE: ARG) has announced that its board of directors has voted unanimously against recommending the unsolicited buyout offer from Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE: APD).  The deal ...
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Today’s Best Market Rumors (2/22/2010)

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 8:31 am

Updated throughout the day. Goldman Sachs (GS) has begun PR efforts to improve its image (NYPost). Stanley Fink, the former chief executive of Man Group, and Larry Hite may start a ...
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The Paradox of a ‘Giving’ Government

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 8:08 am

John Tamny of Forbes Addressing a joint session of Congress in 1974, President Gerald Ford made the surprisingly lucid observation that "A government big enough to give you everything you ...
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Top Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades (DNDN, ETFC, ESLR, HGSI, LDK, LPNT, MWW, PNC, SWKS, STP, VSH)

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 8:03 am

These are some of the top research calls from analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen early this Monday morning: Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Overweight and $46 target at ...
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Economists Discount Trouble, Forecast Expansion

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 7:27 am

Prominent economists, ignoring trouble in Europe and persistently high unemployment, expect 2010 to be as close to a banner year as the US economy has seen in four years. The National Association ...
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Insurance Industry Gets The Blame As Healthcare Plan Falters

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 6:00 am

The Administration's ambitious healthcare plan will not make it through Congress. A scaled down version might. The initial broad program had the support of the insurance and drug industries probably due to ...
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Another Smoking Gun At Toyota

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 5:38 am

By Douglas A. McIntyre Yet another damaging revelation has undercut Toyota's (TM) reputation for disclosing safety issues and the fixing potentially dangerous problems with its cars. The latest twist has ...
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Public Loses Its Faith In Science

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 5:24 am

Faith and science sit at the opposite ends of the spectrum of how people view the world and the causes and effects of their experiences. Now, faith in science is falling ...
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A Program To Kill Alternative Energy: Tax Wind Power

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 5:02 am

Someone in the Wyoming legislature came upon the idea that he and his fellow elected officials could cut budget deficits by taxing wind power production. The state is something of ...
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Media Digest 2/22/2010 Reuters, WSJ, NYTimes, FT, Bloomberg

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 3:46 am

Reuters:   Obama plans to pressure health insurance prices as part of new reforms. Reuters:   A Toyota (TM) memo shows the company worked to keep the costs of one ...
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Asia Markets And Europe Open (2/22/2010)

Posted: February 22, 2010 at 3:20 am

Markets in Asia were mostly higher The Nikkei rose 2.7% to 10,400. Sony (NYSE:SNE) and Toyota (NYSE:TM) rose The Hang Seng was higher by 2.5%. The Shanghai Composite dropped .5% ...
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Why It Took $642 Million In Fees To Dismantle Lehman

Posted: February 21, 2010 at 9:47 pm

Lehman’s bankruptcy is believed to be the largest in US history.  Now, Bloomberg has reported that a new regulatory filing revealed that various consulting and legal firms and other lucky advisors that ...
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National Employee Morale Day At Boeing (BA)

Posted: February 21, 2010 at 1:56 pm

Boeing (NYSE:BA) sent out 1,025 60-day layoff notices, most of them to workers in its Engineering, Operations, and Technology unit. The action was part of Boeing already-disclosed 10,000 employee "termination" ...
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A Flood Of Energy M&A: Schlumberger Buys Smith For $11 Billon

Posted: February 21, 2010 at 1:43 pm

The acquisition by Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) of competitor Smith International Inc. (SII) for $11 billion could be another sign that mergers and acquisitions in the energy sector will pick ...
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