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Companies ranging from hospital operators and pharmacy-benefit managers to drug and device makers are expected to profit from the bill, which will enroll more people in insurance programs.
More people will have health insurance as a result of the bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday night. That's good for the health of real people, as well as for healthcare industry profits. The stock market -- which so many conservative pundits have told us lives in terror of the Obama "agenda" -- is reflecting this reality so far, with all the major indices trading up by mid-morning. Progressives who wanted a public option are disappointed. But how much worse must be the disappointment for the conservatives who are denouncing reform as pure evil, when they look at the news, and realize, hey, no big deal, the market isn't all that upset at the end of freedom?
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2010 13:47 EDT
This time, Jim Cramer gets healthcare wrong
The "Mad Money" host said that if healthcare passed, stocks would tumble. Instead, the market hit a 17-month high
By Andrew Leonard
At the risk of sounding repetitive, I feel compelled to note this for the permanent record. On March 18, "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer appeared on CNBC's "The Kudlow Report" and predicted that passage of healthcare reform would "topple the stock market."
"First, it is the single biggest impediment to the stock market going higher," Cramer said. "And a lot of this has to do with what's not being talked about enough with how it's going to be paid and also about what it will do to small business formation. This bill is a disaster for both."
Five days later, on March 23, the day President Obama signed healthcare reform into law, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 102 points at 10,888.83, a new 17- month high.
We don't know, of course, what the true economic implications of healthcare reform will be. It would also be unwise to assume that stock market virility is any kind of endorsement of reform. Bloomberg attributes the rise in share prices to a series of good corporate earnings reports that are encouraging bullish sentiment.
As a baseline, however, we know that investors are not alarmed, for the moment If anything, they are surprisingly confident in the face of continuing weak economic indicators. But what we do know for sure is that if Jim Cramer makes a negative prediction involving analysis of Obama policy and the stock market, he is generally wrong. I sure hope the conservatives who tuned in to Kudlow's show looking for reasons to justify their distrust of Obama didn't act on his tip, because I can't imagine anything more dispiriting than witnessing Democrats exult over a big victory while losing money on the deal at the same time. As Slate's Daniel Gross warned yesterday, "don't short Obama." You're only going to get burned. Hillary learned that lesson, and so did John McCain. When's Jim Cramer going to buy a clue?
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2010/03/23/jim_cramer_wrong_on_obama_again
Monday, Mar 22, 2010 08:25 EDT
The stock market doesn't fear healthcare reform
What do investors think of the end of freedom and Obama's socialist takeover? So far, they're strangely unbothered
By Andrew Leonard
Now that the totalitarian socialist freedom-haters have had their way with America, it seems like a good time to check in on the health of some corporations that will be most directly affected by healthcare reform: health insurers and drug companies.
OK, it's early yet, but a little more than an hour after the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, the stock prices of insurers WellPoint and Humana were down, while Aetna was up. The share prices of Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithCline were all up, with gusto.
One could take this data to mean those who argued that the new law of the land is a corporate sellout to the pharmaceutical industry were correct. Lobbying organizations such as PHARMA and the American Medical Association supported the healthcare reform bill because they were confident that their businesses would not be harmed. For some Democrats, that reality leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
But an early Wall Street Journal summary this morning makes a more pertinent point. (Italics mine.)
Companies ranging from hospital operators and pharmacy-benefit managers to drug and device makers are expected to profit from the bill, which will enroll more people in insurance programs.
More people will have health insurance as a result of the bill passed by the House of Representatives Sunday night. That's good for the health of real people, as well as for healthcare industry profits. The stock market -- which so many conservative pundits have told us lives in terror of the Obama "agenda" -- is reflecting this reality so far, with all the major indices trading up by mid-morning. Progressives who wanted a public option are disappointed. But how much worse must be the disappointment for the conservatives who are denouncing reform as pure evil, when they look at the news, and realize, hey, no big deal, the market isn't all that upset at the end of freedom?
http://www.salon.com/technology/how_the_world_works/2010/03/22/healthcare_reform_and_the_stock_market
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This time, Jim Cramer gets healthcare wrong - The stock... - 
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