Results for Barack Obama
Teva Pharmaceutical Wins Fight in the Generic Drug Market Battle
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA) will buy sought-after German generic producer Ratiopharm for $4.97 billion, continuing a trend of highly competitive merger-and-acquisition (M&A) activity in the pharmaceutical industry.
Competitors have pursued Ratiopharm for nine months because of its position…
Will Obama’s “Soft Money” Fed Lead to Hard Times for the U.S. Economy?
For a U.S. president, nominating Fed governors is a little like nominating Supreme Court justices: Since they serve a 14-year term, you have the chance to shape the U.S. Federal Reserve for a decade after your administration ends. What’s more – even though Fed governors are subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate – you’re far less likely to have trouble getting them through than you do with the Supremes.
That’s why U.S. President Barack Obama’s current chance to nominate three out of the seven Fed governors is legitimate front-page news – and isn’t merely the "inside monetary baseball" trivia that occupies much of the daily business section. Probably two of those three governors still will be serving in 2020, long after President Obama has published his memoirs.
The bottom line: One of President Obama’s legacies will be a "soft money" Fed.
Can Democrats Dislodge the Debate Over Healthcare Reform?
If U.S. President Barack Obama goes ahead with a plan to have Democrats invoke a parliamentary gambit known as “reconciliation” to pass healthcare reform, a little known provision in the budget cycle ensures that Washington politicians will get to the endgame in less than 60 days.
One of the peculiarities of reconciliation is that it is a creation of the 1974 Budget Act and is linked to the annual budget cycle in Congress. It has been used to pass more than 22 tax cuts and deficit reductions over the years.
But the Budget Act specifies that Congress must complete action on its budget resolution by April 15 of each year. Once the budget resolution conference report is adopted by both the House of Representatives and the Senate, its terms govern the remainder of the budget process for that year – meaning no further spending measures can be introduced, including healthcare reform.
Obama’s Targets Insurers with $950 Billion Health Care Reform Plan
Health insurance providers are protesting this week as the government comes a step closer to strengthening its industry regulation by calling for new “common sense” practices.
This latest development in U.S. President Barack Obama’s push for health care reform occurred Monday when the White House released a sprawling $950 billion proposal in anticipation of tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) scheduled summit.
Obama’s plan, which combines the respective reform bills of the Senate and the House of Representatives, suggests drastic changes are coming for insurance providers.
Obama Looks to Restart U.S. Nuclear Industry With $8 Billion Federal Loan Guarantee
U.S. President Barack Obama gave the long-suffering U.S. nuclear industry a solid boost this week when he announced $8 billion in government loan guarantees in support of a new nuclear power plant in Georgia.
The move is intended to reduce usage of fossil fuels and meet America’s future energy needs. It could also provide new profit opportunities for energy-sector investors.
"I know it has long been assumed that those who champion the environment are opposed to nuclear power," President Obama said in remarks made during a speaking engagement in Lanham, Md. "But the fact is, even though we have not broken ground on a new nuclear power plant in 30 years, nuclear energy remains our largest source of fuel that produces no carbon emissions."
Buy, Sell or Hold: Paychex Inc. Offers a Chance to Profit From the Paradigm Shift in Employment
The U.S. labor picture may not be clear, but investors can profit by acquiring shares of Paychex Inc. (Nasdaq: PAYX) to take advantage of the new employment paradigm.
As the former head of credit and analysis for ADP Capital Management, the investment arm of Automatic Data Processing (Nasdaq: ADP), I know the outsourced payroll industry from the inside out. ADP – a company in which I have kept the stock I received – is the leader in the payroll sector. It focuses on the larger and more stable companies in the United States.
Today, taking into account the latest employment dynamics, and the massive change in the structural characteristics of the U.S. economy, we are going to focus on an ADP competitor – Paychex Inc.
Obama Deficit Brings Us Closer to the Brink of National Bankruptcy
U.S. President Barack Obama’s budget for 2011, presented on Monday, shows a deficit of $1.3 trillion for the fiscal year that ends that September. That shortfall is actually $287 billion more than the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had projected less than a week earlier, when it had released a budget forecast of its own for that same fiscal year.
Granted, we’re getting used to seeing budget deficits expand at a pretty quick pace these days. But even by government standards an increase of nearly $290 billion in less than a week is almost too much to bear!
All kidding aside, $105 billion of this $287 billion increase came about mostly because of a change in "assumptions." The CBO budget assumed that all the 2001 Bush tax cuts would be reversed, whereas the Obama budget reverses only those that applied to the rich (those with incomes above $250,000).
The CBO budget also made the ridiculous assumption that the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) would be allowed to revert to its 2001 level, forcing 25 million taxpayers to calculate their taxes twice – and to then pay the higher of the two estimates. That was never going to happen, and the Obama budget finally abandons that idiotic piece of fiction.
The disparity in deficit projections between the CBO and the Obama administration weren’t limited just to fiscal 2011. For the period from 2011 to 2020, the CBO forecasted a budget deficit of $6.047 trillion, while the Obama budget released just days later projected a shortfall of $8.532 trillion – a difference of $2.485 trillion.
The difference in assumptions between the CBO and Obama projections explains nearly half of that difference. Of course, that still leaves the other half.
And a troublesome half it is.
To find out how these numbers may forecast a U.S. bankruptcy, read on…
Obama Aims to Spur Small Business Hiring With $30 Billion Lending Program
In the latest in a series of efforts to spur American businesses to hire more workers, President Barack Obama today (Tuesday) issued a proposal to provide community banks with $30 billion to increase lending to small businesses.
The new lending program aims to invest $30 billion in 8,000 banks to provide loans to businesses ready to hire new workers. Funding for the program would come from money returned by large banks to the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and would require Congressional approval.
“Small businesses…have created roughly 65% of all new jobs over the past decade and a half. And I think we should make it easier for them,” Mr. Obama said in a statement obtained by The Wall Street Journal. “This will help small banks do even more of what our economy needs: ensure that small businesses are once again the engine of job growth in America.”
Seven Ways to Profit From the Obama Administration’s New “Clean Energy Economy” Push
After Wednesday night’s State of the Union address, the Obama administration has added a new mantra to its lexicon.
Welcome to the "Clean Energy Economy."
In a speech in which embattled U.S. President Barack Obama badly needed to reinvent himself, the nation’s chief executive focused on initiatives designed to add value to the U.S. economy and create jobs. Clean energy technology was front-and-center as one of those initiatives.
“Volcker Rule” Socks Bank Trading, Funding for Hedge funds and Private Equity
The fallout from the “Volcker Rule,” President Barack Obama’s proposal to ban banks from making speculative investments that do not benefit their customers, rattled stock and bond markets last week as analysts panicked over the possible repercussions.
At its heart, the plan would fundamentally change the banking industry, separating commercial banks from investment banks, a line that was muddled over a decade ago by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.
"Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank that is too big to fail," Obama said Thursday.
Obama announced the plan with former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker at his side. Volcker has been stumping for months for increased regulatory control, and the President credited him for the plan’s design, dubbing it the “Volcker Rule.”
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