A Week of Surprise Decisions: Health Care, News Corp. and Housing

Laura Shin

Posted on Jun 29, 2012

In a historic decision, the Supreme Court ruled to largely uphold President Obama’s health care law, keeping its central characteristic–the individual mandate to buy health insurance–as a tax. Read our story on the decision, and well as our previous story on how the law will affect you.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. made a surprise decision to split itself into two companies: the profitable entertainment business, which includes 20th Century Fox, Fox broadcast network and Fox News Channel, and the publishing arm, which include The Wall Street Journal, The Times of London and HarperCollins book publishing.

In other business news, JPMorgan’s multibillion dollar trading loss could be many times the initial estimates: The latest report says that it will amount to $9 billion. Speaking of banks in a pickle, Barclays, which was accused of trying to manipulate key interest rates, paid  $450 million to settle with U.S. and British banking regulators.

Now for some good news: After a years-long downturn, the housing market is finally picking up steam: Prices are rising, sales are increasing and the pace of home building has increased

We’re also happy to report that Facebook decided to appoint to its board Sheryl Sandberg, who will be its first female member.

How Would Legalizing Gay Marriage Affect the Economy?

It’s not only gay couples who should care about same-sex marriage. Legalizing it could help your state economy–and eventually the U.S. at large.

Is Amazon Playing Fair with Small Retailers?

Some small businesses who sell through Amazon suspect that the internet giant is seeing which Marketplace items sell well and then offering them itself—for a cheaper price.

Image: Supporters of the health care law react after the Supreme Court ruling. (SEIU/Flickr)