Different Strokes for different Folks?

On the (London) morning of the great Democratic debacle in the Massachusetts Senate race Bloomberg ran an article focusing overwhelmingly on the effect the loss of Ted Kennedy's seat would have on the insurance and health care companies. There were quotes from Asset Managers advocating said companies on the basis that Obama's Health Care Reforms were essentially dead in the water. There was a brief analysis of how the stocks of these companies had already started to rise in the days leading up to the election as the market was predicting a Republican victory.

Nothing new there. A very clear analysis of the situation calling a spade a spade. Of course the insurance and private healthcare industry would profit if the Health Care Reforms are not enacted, but stating it so clearly obviously upset someone's sensibilities in New York for a couple of hours later the article which I had inadvertently left open on my screen had been completely rewritten. Gone was any discussion of the financial repercussions on insurance and health care companies and in its place was an analysis of the two campaigns, what impact this would have on the upcoming mid-term elections,was this the rebirth of the Republican Party etc.-essentially a political discussion without any crossover into the private sector.

Then yesterday there was an article published in the London morning by the same provider highlighting President Obama's understanding and support for the bonus paid to Mr Blankfein of Goldman Sachs. I thought this a little strange considering all the furore surrounding the Treasury and its' relationship to Goldman Sachs but perhaps Obama was purposefully mentioning Goldman given the (relatively) low bonus Mr Blankfein was paid.

In any event, again when New York entered, although this time the gist of the article remained-Obama demonstrating that although he will play the populist card when necessary he was definitely not un-American and certainly not a Socialist with the twist being that in the later version it was no longer Mr Blankfein but rather Mr Dimon of JPMorgan that was the beneficiary of President Obama's largess.

None of this is earthshaking, but it does make me wonder why the Americans can't read the same material as the Europeans.