By William Patalon III
Executive Editor
Money Morning/Money Map Report

[Editor's Note: When it comes to banking or global economics, there's literally no one better than Money Morning Contributing Editor Martin Hutchinson - a former investment banker with more than a 25 years experience. Hutchinson has proven himself to be a market maven and he is currently offering investors an opportunity to make $4.201 in cash in just 12 days. You can also subscribe to Martin's new investment service, The Permanent Wealth Investor, by clicking here .]

Just days after Chrysler LLC said it would be cutting one quarter of its auto dealerships, 1,100 General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) dealerships have reportedly been told not to expect a relationship with the embattled U.S. carmaker after October 2010.

GM dealers targeted for separation were informed by

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Just days after Chrysler LLC said it would be cutting one quarter of its auto dealerships, 1,100 General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) dealerships have reportedly been told not to expect a relationship with the embattled U.S. carmaker after October 2010.

GM dealers targeted for separation were informed by letter over the weekend, Reuters reported.

The eradication of hundreds of hundreds of American auto dealerships is merely the latest development in the ongoing dismantling of the so-called U.S. “Big Three’’ – a  process that seems likely to leave Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) as the last American automaker standing.

“These companies are making up for now for what they have avoided doing for years, if not decades,” industry analyst John A. Casesa, managing partner of consultantcy Casesa Shapiro Group LLC, told The New York Times. “And if the

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Over the past decade there has been a noticeable shift within the field of education and a strong push for continued integration of technology in education. The newly-elected administration understands this world-wide shift and understands America is currently behind the curve as far as education is concerned. To combat this, the administration is concentrating its efforts on increasing the quality of America’s education, resources for required for this education, and technology in the classroom. Thus, education IT seems to be a favorable sub-sector in the long run, and should experience growth in the future, well beyond that which it had previously seen with the emergence of the computer.

Within this subsector there are many small regional private companies along with some larger companies traded on foreign exchanges, but

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Obama's Healthcare Plan Is Big Bark, Small Bite by Jason Napodano, CFA

When President Obama's administration released the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, drug stocks quickly dropped. Fears of socialized medicine, or "Hillary-Care 2.0" turned investors away from the sector.

Was the drop warranted?

There are 6 key components to healthcare reform that could have a meaningful impact on pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the near future.Four of these are potentially negative, whereas the other 2 are potentially positive.

First Potential Negative: Increasing Pricing Rebates

The new proposal calls for an increase in Medicaid rebates from the current level of 15% to 21%. This equates to a 6% decrease in pricing power by all the companies in our universe into the Medicaid market. If we delve deeper into the ramification of this

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About 130 Congress members, independent experts, and advocacy group members will converge on the White House today to address the fiscal health of the United States. The summit is the first step in President Obama’s administration to prioritize plans on how to cut the deficit in half to $533 billion by the end of his first term.

Senator Judd Gregg said, “It can either be a nice press event. Or it can be a substantive event.” Gregg indicated that in past meetings participants have focused on rehashing problems rather than staying focused on how to solve the problems.

One solution that may be discussed is a piece of legislation written by Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Their legislation would be to create a bipartisan commission that would deal with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many House Democrats appear to

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There is a much better way to generate nuclear energy, says Patrick Cox. Thorium is more efficient, more abundant and less hazardous than uranium. Patrick says it is government subsidies and regulations are blocking the widespread use of thorium. But if Obama removes these barriers, it could become the ultimate alternative energy.

This from The Daily Reckoning:

Contrary to the common misconception, we have no energy shortage. In fact, we have more energy available than we could ever use. If not for the anti-nuclear movement, the funders of terrorism would not be awash with petrodollars and our economy would be significantly stronger. Unfortunately, rock musicians and actors had more influence on energy policies than scientists like Petr Beckmann, whom I was lucky to have as a friend.

Dr. Beckmann was a Czech refugee from Nazism who spent much of his career in America promoting nuclear power. Until he died, Beckmann

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From Washington Post:

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"It does look like a great eight years, aside from the last quarter, unfortunately," Edward P. Lazear, chairman of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, said in a recent interview. "In the long term, things look good. The reason things look good is this economy will rebound, and it will rebound strongly. . . . We expect things to turn around, and I would say early in President Obama's administration."

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President-elect Obama’s choice of Richardson as Secretary of Commerce appears a solid pick by our judgement. Although typically seen as a lightweight cabinet position, the office really is what the president makes of it. Considering Obama’s own ambitious plans as well as the pressure on him to fix the economy, we think it’s safe to say Richardson will be instrumental in Obama’s administration. Current Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Gutierrez, had this to say: “I’m proud of the Commerce Department’s role in opening foreign markets, protecting our oceans and natural resources, strengthening American competitiveness and promoting freedom and democracy abroad. Gov. Richardson will take the reigns of a strong agency with dedicated civil servants who will continue these efforts on behalf of the American people.”

November 19, 2008 - Solar stocks to a hit on Tuesday on comments from J.P. Morgan’s Christopher Blansett about the potential for reduced subsidies for solar in Europe. Blansett said that 2008 may he thinks 2008 was a peak for solar energy subsidization and recommended First Solar (Nasdaq:FSLR) as a “safe haven.” We disagree with Blansett’s assessment and timing. We think his assessment is doesn’t account for the legislative realities in place in the U.S., Japan and Europe. And we think his timing to call for instability in solar stocks is extremely late. Here is our take: Blansett clearly isn’t impressed by Governor Schwarzenegger’s mandate for 33% renewable energy contribution in California, the potential impact and long-term stability in the U.S. market provided by the eight-year solar tax credit extension, and the expectation that Obama’s administration will likely accelerate the passage in Congress of a federal RPS. We think these ...

Carbon Sciences Inc. (CABN.OB), the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into gasoline and other fuels, recently announced the potential benefits of the Obama administration on the company’s future growth. The President-elect is expected to support legislation for the development of renewable energy sources. In fact, industry insiders forecast that legislation may come early next year to speed a transition to an economy fueled by renewable energy sources.

Obama’s administration is not only looking to overhaul the current U.S. energy policies but plans to strategically invest $150 billion over 10 years in a clean energy economy that will help the private sector create 5 million new green jobs through his “New Energy for America” plan. Additionally, this plan will support the production of synthetic petroleum from sustainable feed stocks in order to break American addiction to oil while at the same time creating millions of green

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