Journalists On Capitol Call

There is little rest for weary journalists this weekend.Instead of watching basketball,many of them are focused on the momentous health care bill struggling through Congress.It seems that momentum is moving in the bill's favor,with several holdouts pledging their support at this late hour in the process.It's one of the more complex pieces of legislation in the history of democracy,being over 2,000 pages long.It is an insurance reform package that is to be phased in over a number of years.While health insurers opposed it,the largest doctor's trade group,the American Medical Association,approved of it,along with the AARP seniors organization.Veteran broadcast journalist Dan Rather said he had never seen the country so polarized as it is today,which distinguishes our era from the mid-1960s,when President Lyndon Johnson got Medicare and Medicaid on the books.
Profits were taken on Wall Street today in advance of Sunday's vote on very light volume.For the week,the Dow was up 1.1,while the NASDAQ rose 6.75 and the S&P gained 9.1.The S&P futures were down 5.0 early this evening.Many traders may have been waiting to see just what happens in Congress,and how the early risers in Asia and Europe react to it beginning on Sunday evening,as they didn't buy many of the bargains available Friday afternoon.To this point,the rally has been strong,with higher highs and higher lows,as well as being broadly based.Many say a correction is needed now to keep it rolling on.