If you are an investor, you really need to pay as much attention to this as the price of Oil. Somebody BIG (as in Big Brother) is making sure these articles stay on the front pages of the major news aggregators... and that is NOT happening by accident.
OK, here's why its important:
When you hear that the U.S. economy is 70% consumer driven that number INCLUDES healthcare. It then follows that with healthcare at 18% or 19% of GDP that consumer is accurately only 51% or so of total GDP... now, my contention is that one way or another healthcare will be reduced to 10% to 13% of GDP, and that would represent a significant drag on economic expansion... coupled with $100 Oil and deflation in housing prices, a contraction in credit, and rising Treasury yields (we seem to have a bunch of 800 pound gorillas in the room with us)... Old Uncle Ben (Bernake) better have QE 3,4,5, and 6 up his sleeve.
This does not mean that asset prices cannot go even higher... Russian Roulette can be won beyond six rolls of the cylinder...
Healthcare is going to come under attack from the Government - its going to be a massive attack. Given the lobbying money from that industry this is going to be interesting... but given the hints in the media my bet is this industry is already under attack and they don't even know it yet. Count on indictments of over-diagnosising physicians, among other things. The government overuses its criminal prosecution powers, and those folks are looking for a way to justify their existence... so saving money for society on the healthcare side has a sexy story to be told.
Send your kid to Dental School. Those guys are fairly safe as it is a "self-pay" market place. In the end, 20, 30 , 40 years from now, everything will be "self-pay". "Health Insurance" was ALWAYS a dumb idea.
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Oil and Nat Gas were in rally mode on 12/31... can't tell if that was sympathy buying for "print day" or something more... but the trend is your friend... I added to positions in anticipation that the rally in Oil & Gas holds, but I am what they refer to in the trade as a "weak hand"... any selling and I will be, too.
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Oil and Nat Gas were in rally mode on 12/31... can't tell if that was sympathy buying for "print day" or something more... but the trend is your friend... I added to positions in anticipation that the rally in Oil & Gas holds, but I am what they refer to in the trade as a "weak hand"... any selling and I will be, too.