Barack Obama News

White House Calls for ‘Urgency’ on Financial Regulation Reform

The Obama administration’s ambitious plan to overhaul U.S. financial regulation was bogged down in Congress as it returned from a long recess Tuesday. With no clear path forward in the Senate, analysts and lobbyists said Democrats would be hard-pressed to …

Doha Round Talks Now an ‘End-Game’ Says Australian Trade Minister

The World Trade Organization’s Doha round to free up trade is nearly complete and world leaders are voicing the political will to reach a deal next year, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said on Wednesday. But at a meeting of …

Tropical Storm Danny Weakens; East Coast Likely Spared Hurricane

Tropical Storm Danny weakened in the Atlantic Ocean Thursday and was no longer expected to become a hurricane, but it edged closer to the U.S. coast on a path that could take it to Canada’s Atlantic provinces by Sunday. Storm …

Lloyd’s Explores Terrorism/Internet Threats

Politico-social trends are rarely static; they evolve over time. Terrorism is no exception. An article on the Lloyd’s of London web site (www.lloyds.com) notes that “today’s extremists are just as intent on causing headline grabbing death and destruction – but …

Hurricane Bill Drenches Eastern Canada; Two Die in U.S.

Hurricane Bill brought rain and heavy winds to eastern Canada Sunday after pounding the U.S. East Coast with heavy seas that killed two people. A seven-year-old girl died in a hospital after she was pulled unresponsive from the sea by …

Private Health Insurance Competition Weak in Many U.S. Markets

One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition — just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S. Several studies …

Obama Signals Compromise on Public Health Option

The government-run health insurance option favored by President Barack Obama is not essential to a healthcare overhaul as long as the final measure boosts competition, a top U.S. health official said Sunday. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said …

U.S. Pay Czar Weighs ‘Claw Backs’ over Executive Compensation

Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s pay czar, said on Sunday he has broad and “binding” authority over executive compensation, including the ability to “claw back” money already paid, and he is weighing how and whether to use that power. Feinberg …

Insurers in Crosshairs of U.S. Health Care Reformers

The debate over reforming the U.S. health care system has zeroed in on one main target: insurance companies. Democrats and the Obama administration plan to spend August battling to win popular support to expand health care coverage as the insurance …

The More People Think They Know Health Reforms, Opposition Rises

In late January only 17 percent of the public claimed to know much about President Obama’s health care reform proposals. By late July, just before the president’s press conference on July 22, that number had more than doubled, to 36 …