Although the majority of the of the bill has passed both houses of congress and will be enacted into law when President Obama signs the legislation, a reconciliation package of amendments will be sent to the Senate to resolve disagreements between the house and senate bills. The Senate will likely approve the legislation under a reconciliation process that can be passed by a simple filibuster-proof majority vote.

Democrats made the healthcare overhaul the centerpiece of their domestic agenda for the 2010 midterm elections. Republicans are largely against the legislation claiming that it is too expensive and broadens government powers too much. They argue that Democrats shoved the legislation through and ignored policy suggestions from the GOP. Democrats say that Republicans have refused to negotiate on the bill in hopes of gaining a political defeat for President Obama.

Democratic leaders hailed the passage of healthcare overhaul as historic legislation which was on par with the enactment of Social Security after the Great Depression and the implementation f Medicare in the 1960’s.

A key development in the political process occurred Sunday afternoon when President Obama issued an executive order stating that the healthcare bill would not interfere on an existing ban on federal funding for abortions. After the executive order conservative democrat Bart Stupak and six other Democrats agreed to vote for the legislation, paving the way for the passage of the Senate’s health care package in the House of Representatives, leading the way for President Obama to sign the legislation

Some of the first changes that Democrats say will go into effect before 2011 include that people that are diagnosed with serious illnesses will no longer face annual spending caps. If you buy a health insurance policy, health insurance providers will no longer be able to provide a lifetime or an annual cap on how much policies will cover.

The legislation also provides $5 billion in immediate support to provide for temporary coverage of insured Americans with pre-existing conditions. Children will immediately no longer be able to be denied based on pre-existing conditions and children will now be able to stay on their parent’s health insurance policies through age 26.

Small businesses that offer health insurance coverage to their workers will be able to receive up to 50% of the premiums back in tax credits.

New insurance plans will also be required to offer free preventative care.

Seniors that participate in Medicare Part D will also receive $250 to help pay for prescriptions.

Some of the more sweeping changes will go into effect in 2014, including a mandate that most Americans carry health insurance. Low-income families will be exempt from the mandate.

In 2014, small businesses, self-employed people and individuals that are uninsured will be able to purchase insurance from new state-based pools called exchanges.

Adults will no longer be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

President Obama is expected to sign the legislation soon, however changes made to the bill will require the senate’s approval before those provisions go into effect.

According to banking analyst, Bert Ely, Bank of America’s “efforts to curb its losses in the mortgage fallout are indicative of what’s going on in the industry”. Paul Muolo, executive editor of National Mortgage News, appears to agree with Ely. Muolo said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are asking more lenders to buy back mortgages that were “not made in accordance with their underwriting standards”. In short as everyone scrambles to cover their losses, the blame gets passed from one party to another.

In the case of First American Corp, Bank of America claims the title insurer did not do the necessary background checks of information provided by homeowners. Instead of conducting traditional title searches which would have turned up liens on properties, First American Corp took the homeowners word as to whether or not there were liens on the property in question. The purpose of traditional title searches is “to protect the bank against defective titles on home-equity loans and lines of credit, according to the suit, files March 5 in a North Carolina court”. As a result of not performing traditional title searches, over $500 million in losses have been reported on over 5,000 loans which First American Corp is refusing to cover.

As more and more home owners find themselves in a position where they are defaulting on mortgage loans, it is likely the fighting between lenders and mortgage insurers over who will be responsible for the losses will continue. According to Ely, “if First American didn’t do proper title checks, it could end up on the losing end of the suit”.

According to the lawsuit, First American either denied or ignored most of the claims presented by Bank of America in 2008 and 2009. A spokeswoman for Bank of America, Shirley Norton did not have a comment, however Carrie Gaska, the spokeswoman for First American had this to say in an emailed statement, “First American subsidiaries ‘regrets that their valuable customer, Bank of America, has chosen to file a legal action against the companies’ and ‘we are hopeful that we will be able to resolve this matter outside of court with continued discussions’.”

Tello has been tracking order numbers submitted by volunteers since March 12^th when apple began accepting pre-orders for the iPad. By tracking order numbers and, Tello was able to estimate how many iPad pre-orders have been made. Tello believes that Apple has sold more than 180,000 iPads on Wednesday.

“I think sometime during Friday, perhaps before noon, the counter should roll to 200,000 units pre-ordered,” he told Fortune.

Tello’s count does not include iPad reservations that have been set for pick-up on Apple retail stores on April 3^rd.

Wi-Fi only versions of the Apple iPad will be available on April 3^rd. The iPad with 3G support will be available in late April. iPad models will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April.

The California-based peer-to-peer lending company recently issued their 10,000^th loan and has now originated more than $95 million in loans as of the middle of March.

Lending Club is one of a few companies taking advantage of depressed loan activity on the part of traditional banks. Large financial institutions in the United States are being pressured by regulators to increase their capital levels. They are cutting back on their lending activities with unsecured loans such as personal loans and student loans often being the first type of loan to get cut.

As a result, Lending Club, its competitor Prosper Marketplace, and a new class of fledgling student loan-focused peer-to-peer lending companies are enabling borrowers to take out loans with other individuals serving as the creditor. Investors looking for an alternative investment can opt to partially fund loan listings from borrowers and then receive payments with interest from the borrower overtime.

Prosper Marketplace, the company that popularized peer-to-peer lending in the United States, has learned many lessons for the peer-to-peer lending industry the hard way and is now in desperate need of another major round of funding to continue operations. Prosper recently took out a $2 million bridge loan to pay for its operations, but the loan is due on April 1^st if the company does not receive another round of funding by the date according to an SEC filing made by Prosper.

Lending Club appears to have avoided many of the problems that Prosper faced by making more stringent requirements from borrowers from the get-go. This is why Lending Club has seen $1 billion in loan demand but has originated only $95 million in loans—most borrowers on the site get rejected because of insufficient credit.

Lending Club also reported on a blog post on their website that the average interest rate that their borrowers are now paying is 11.95%. 60% of Lending Club borrowers use their loans as a balance transfer for their credit card debt or to consolidate other debts.

Currently Apple is allowing customers to pre-order five accessories for the iPad, including a dock with a keyboard, a standard dock, a case, a 10 watt USB power adapter and a VGA adapter.

Apple announced yesterday that it would be delaying its ship-date of the iPad keyboard dock and the 10W USB power adapter until sometime in May.

According to the Apple Store, the standard iPad case will ship in mid April.

Only two of the slated iPad accessories will ship on the same day as the iPad, including the iPad dock and the iPad dock connector to VGA adapter.

Another accessory that was demoed but is not available for pre-order was a dock to USB connection that would allow photographers to off-load photos from a digital camera onto the device. Apple has not stated when that accessory would be available for pre-order

Most consumer advocates have hailed the move as a step in the right direction or the largest bank in the United States to improve their customer service, but the reality is that the threat of accidentally or intentionally over drafting your account shouldn’t be an issue at all. The $39.00 fee that Bank of America or any other bank would charge you should really be a non-issue because through the use of proper checkbook balancing, you should never overdraft your account.

An excellent strategy for those that aren’t good at keeping track of balances on your checking account is to keep an amount of money that serves as padding. This is money that you won’t ever spend in your checking account, but will serve as a means of making sure that there’s always money to cover transactions in your account.

For example, I keep $500.00 in my checking accounts as my “base amount.” I consider this to be my “zero” mark. Any time that my balance drops below the $500.00 mark, I consider myself to be in the red on a personal standpoint and don’t spend any more money until I put more money into my account. Having a padding amount of $100, $500 or $1,000 in your account is very useful to prevent overdrafts in the case that a check you receive fails to clear in a timely manner.

Another strategy that you might consider if you’re not good at balancing your checkbook on a day to day basis is to put all of your every-day purchases on a credit card with a high limit and pay it off at the end of the month. You won’t have to worry about accidentally over-drafting your account because of the high limit.

If you’re in a situation where you simply don’t have any money and you’re over drafting your checking account, then you have bigger issues to worry about than a $39.00 fee from Bank of America. In that case, it’s time to put yourself on a cash-based budget using the envelope system that will prevent you from spending more than you have and will help you prioritize where your money should go.

According to Marc Jahr, the current president of the NYC Housing Authority, Citigroup has partnered with an affiliate to purchase 13 of the 21 projects. The projects in question are considered some of the worst, run-down apartments out of the group. Citi is taking on $360 million of the debt and has plans to re-market the rest. In addition, Citi will invest over 200 million dollars of equity into the 13 projects which should result in tax credits of $255 million off their federal tax bills.

All 21 projects were build with city and state funds after the second World War. As time has passed, the city and state stopped subsidizing the projects requiring the housing authority to use federal dollars set aside for other projects to pay for the upkeep. Over the years, the projects have fallen into disrepair making modernization necessary to bring the projects current with the times.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has stated, “Nothing is going to change except for the better” and reminding people that “No one will be displaced. The land these developments occupy will always be used for public housing and nothing else.”

The renovation of these projects comes at a perfect time when the city’s unemployment rate is exceeds ten percent. With hundreds of renovations needed, this will provide jobs for countless workers. In addition to the repairs needed for the 13 projects that Citigroup is involved with, there are also 8 other projects which will be renovated through the New York City Housing Authority and the New York City Housing Partnership. It is expected that just under 500 million dollars will be issued to the New York City Housing Development in a period of three years in the form of tax-exempt bonds.

According to a piece written by Corby Kummer in the Atlantic magazine, it appears Walmart may be helping small farms and local economies more than their competitor Whole Foods (WFMI). Whole Foods Market is also one of the world’s largest retailers, specializing in natural and organic foods. Despite the fact that Americans are showing an increased interest in where their food comes from and the quality of products going on the dinner table, the struggling economy has made it more difficult for some families to afford the high price tag associated with better quality foods. As a result, more consumers are turning toward the local discount giant, Walmart for lower priced groceries that are more affordable. In Kummer’s essay, he notes that he was surprised to discover the variety and quality of foods found at Walmart, as well as the fact that many of the products came from local farms. This lead to a discovery of a little known program called Heritage Agriculture offered by Walmart.

Through this program, local farms (within a day’s drive of Walmart warehouses) are encouraged to grow crops that otherwise would take days to truck in from out of state. This might prove to be a big boost for local farmers and economies as well, due to the fact that many small to medium sized farms are simply unable to compete with industrial farms. With a guaranteed buyer of their crops, these local farmers can focus on growing quality products that will be bought and consumed locally. Of course this benefits Walmart by giving them a larger piece of consumer spending. And at the end of the day, corporations must pay attention to the bottom line. It appears even if Walmart has to pay slightly higher prices to buy locally grown food, versus buying from large industrial farms, they save money on transportation and other costs associated with buying from non-local farmers. If those savings can be passed on to you and your family, while supporting the local economy- it could be a win-win situation.

Out of the 110 fatalities that have been attributed to sudden acceleration in NHTSA records, 59 of them occurred in brands other than those sold by Toyota, whose recent recalls have brought significant public attention to the issue.

The federal agency received 15,174 complaints from drivers involving unintended acceleration issues during the last 10 years. The company has ran 141 investigations of the phenomena during the last 30 years, ending 112 of them without any corrective actions.

NHSTA repeatedly concludes that these accidents occur largely because drivers mistakenly stomp on the accelerator instead of the brake. Because of the large number of cases involving human error, the NHTSA has taken complaints of runaway vehicles less seriously than they otherwise would have.

“The agency had made a determination that this was primarily a human factor, driver error, and that’s outside NHTSA’s purview,” said Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator to Bloomberg.

He continued, “The Toyota case has brought new scrutiny to other factors, and NHTSA has to look at other causes.”

Claybrook also serves as the president emeritus of Public Citizen, a D.C. based advocacy group that has sued automakers in hopes of getting crash information.