Intersecting Minds: Education, Business and Technology at the North Carolina State Jenkins Graduate School of Management

Monday Quick Links | March 22, 2010

Of course the big news of the day is the passage of comprehensive health care reform by Congress and the Obama administration. CNN Money has an article up this morning addressing the impact of the bill on small businesses.

Business Week also takes a closer look at how the legislation impacts both the insurance and pharmaceutical/biotechnology industries. In particular, biotech/pharma scored a big victory in establishing 12-year patent protections for their products. The bill is also expected to introduce millions of new customers to the insurance market through a federal mandate to purchase insurance.

And in the short run, US stocks are up this morning on reaction to the bills’ passage.

In an exceedingly rare event, yields on bonds issued by Berkshire Hathaway fell below yields on US Treasuries. Bloomberg outlines the story, which essentially says investors now trust Warren Buffett more than they do Barack Obama to pay back their debt. The US’ AAA credit rating is also in danger.

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