Marketplace Music

Playlist: Bernanke and Libya

Katharine Crnko Mar 1, 2011

Posted by Katharine Crnko

For Marketplace Morning Report, Tuesday March 1, 2011

The Obama administration has issued the first deepwater drilling permit since the BP oil spill. Nobel Energy will officially resume deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico later this month, as Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.

The Institute of Medicine is meeting this week to determine what constitutes ‘essential’ medical care — which under the health care reform, will be guaranteed to all Americans.

In post-Mubarak Egypt, there’s a risk that investors will fear jumping in immediately, but in the longer term, a democratic bonanza may arrive.

The 81st Gevena International Motor Show kicks off this week, and motorheads are already buzzing about big news from Volkswagen. The New York Times Wheels blog is reporting that VW will introduce the Volkswagen Bulli today.

While the Libyan economy continues to function at a very basic level, many nations have withdrawn their citizens from the troubled country. And Libya’s oil chief says oil production is at half the level it was a few weeks ago. Steve Chiotakis speaks with the BBC’s Kevin Connolly who has been in Benghazi for several days.

Even though commodity prices are skyrocketing, what you pay for food is not necessarily going up. Here’s why.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that insurance companies cannot take gender into account when charging premiums and giving benefits. This includes auto and life insurance; young men cannot be charged more than young women for car insurance, as Stephen Beard explains.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will deliver his semi-annual testimony on the state of the U.S. economy to the Senate Banking Committee today. Nancy Marshall Genzer has more.

In worst-off states, shortfall equals a third of next budget.

As Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke prepares to address Congress this morning, Steve Chiotakis speaks with Len Blum, managing partner at Westwood Capital. Blum expects that Bernanke will be ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the economy, but his comments might be tempered over concerns in rising oil prices.

The U.S. Treasury Department has revised China’s holdings of U.S. debt to $1.16 trillion. As Nancy Marshall Genzer explains, that is considerably more than previously report.

Bob Moon speaks with Juli Niemann, analyst with Smith, Moore & Company in St. Louis, about what she thinks will come of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before Congress today and how it will affect Wall Street.

Steve Chiotakis speaks with Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before the Senate today. Petrou and other analysts believe Bernanke will present cautious optimism on the state of the economy.

Here are the songs we played:

  • Transfiguration, No. 1 — M. Ward
  • How Beautiful You Are — The CureBuy
  • Smoke — Medeski, Martin and WoodBuy
  • The Dreaming Mind — QuanticBuy
  • Collide the Tide — Chin Up Chin UpBuy

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