"Dreamliner" nightmare is nearly finished

Speculative excess
Speculators ignite the early stages of most bull markets, concedes MarketWatch's Mark Hulbert, who goes on to demonstrate how the stock-market surge beginning this March has featured greater-than-typical levels of speculation -- and why that's cause for concern.

The power of an empty seat
Sen. Kennedy, who succumbed to brain cancer this week, championed many causes during his long career -- immigration reform, education, handicapped rights and many others -- but he is best known for his unceasing efforts to reform health care, which is why mere days before his death he sent a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick asking that he lead an effort to change a Massachusetts law that would keep Kennedy's seat in the Senate vacant for as much as a half-year, perhaps, notes columnist Darrell Delamaide, depriving the Democrats of the 60th vote needed to invoke cloture against a potential GOP health-reform filibuster.

Bernanke re-upped
President Obama made it official early Tuesday in a casual-attire news conference on Martha's Vineyard, announcing that he is reappointing Ben Bernanke for a second four-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.