Obamacare

The U.S. House is now in one hour of debate and then will vote on a temporary funding bill to keep the federal government running after September 30. The continuing resolution would fund the federal government at current sequester levels of $986.3 billion through December 15 and defund the Affordable Care Act. As CSPAN notes, following Speaker Boehner's proposal (to vote on this CR and whether to raise the debt ceiling next next week), Minority leader Nancy Pelosi issued a statement claiming that the House GOP was "prepared to shut down the government" to block President Obama's signature health law. At a press briefing on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told reporters, "Any House bill that defunds Obamacare is dead." Let the fireworks begin...

Sounds like the 'negotiation' is going great...

• *BOEHNER SAYS HEALTH CARE LAW 'MUST GO,' IS COSTING JOBS
• *BOEHNER SAYS DEFICIT REDUCTION IN PAST TIED TO DEBT LIMIT DEALS

And while noting that Obama was willing to 'deal' with Russia's Putin, Boehner added that "not engaging" threatens the US economy.

Wondering why bond yields are blowing wider? Seems the Republicans have decided that they won't stand for anything but a defunded Obamacare, smaller deficits (well that won't help the QE), and negotiations over the Debt Ceiling...

• U.S. HOUSE MAJORITY LEADERS CANTOR SAYS FIGHT OVER DELAYING 'OBAMACARE' HEALTH REFORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE DEBT CEILING DEBATE
• U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER SAYS THIS YEAR WILL BE "NO DIFFERENT" FROM 2011 ATTEMPT TO LINK DEBT CEILING HIKE TO BUDGET CUTS

The chart below tells a story. Do you think the fiscal and monetary policies implemented by Bernanke and Obama since 2008 were designed to benefit you? If you believe in regression to the mean and a world based on reality, then you should be prepared for corporate profits to decline by 14% to 20% over the next four years. What do you think that will do to a stock market where the PE ratio is already at valuation levels of 1929, 2000, and 2007?

If the Fed was looking for any confirmation as it entered its two day meeting that its monetary machinations are boosting inflation, at least according to the BLS' hedonically, seasonally-adjusted CPI indicator, it did not get it. August CPI just printed at a measly 0.1% increase from July, below the 0.2% expected, and down from 0.2% last month. This was the lowest monthly increase in overall inflation since May, and the biggest miss to expectations in 4 months. On a Y/Y basis overall prices roses 1.5%, below the expected 1.6% and well below the 2.0% inflation in July. Core inflation excluding food and energy rose 1.8% in line with the expected number, and higher than the 1.7% a month ago. Perhaps the best news is that according to the BLS, "the index for nonalcoholic  beverages declined in August, falling 0.1 percent." It is unclear what if any hedonic adjustments were used in this particular calculation. As a reminder, the Fed has been "targeting" 2.0% inflation, and failing. So since in the Fed's eyes inflation continues to not be an issue, how long until the Fed proceeds to target NGDP, unanchors inflation expectations, and finally launches Bernanke's helicopter as we speculated recently?

It had become clear that the President's own political base in the Senate were not going to support Mr. Summer's ascendancy. The eye of the Press will now turn to Mr. Kohn, Ms. Yellen, who does not seem to have the support of Mr. Obama, and the long, though interesting shot, of Stanley Fischer. Mr. Obama appears to be easing into a lame duck presidency far earlier than once thought and the reality of Obamacare will hit Main Street on October 1 which may tip the scales further out of his control. It may not be either the best of times or the worst of times but very volatile times that mark this week.

A few days ago, when we reported that the largest federation of unions, the AFL-CIO, had figured out that Obamacare was not all it was craked up to be and demanded changes be implemented to appease their constituency as pertains to multi-employer group health plans, many wondered if the administration would not simply cave and pass an exemption giving unions a sidedeal at the expense of all other participants. Last night that option was taken off the table when the Obama administration appeared to rule out giving unions a special deal to offer their workers extra ObamaCare subsidies. As AP reports, "on Friday night, the White House said the Treasury Department had issued a letter making clear that it does not see a legal way for individuals in multi-employer group health plans to receive individual market tax credits as well as the favorable tax treatment associated with employer-provided health insurance at the same time."

Much to the amazement of doom-and-gloomers, everything's been fixed and as a result, everything's great. The list is impressive: China: fixed. Japan: fixed. Europe: fixed. U.S. healthcare: fixed. Africa: fixed. Mideast: well, not fixed, but no worse than a month ago, and that qualifies as fixed. Doom and gloomers have been wrong, just like Paul Krugman said. The solution to every problem is at hand: create more money and credit, in ever larger sums, until a tsunami of cash washes away all difficulties. Let's scroll through a brief summary of everything that's been fixed.

Overnight asset classes got a jolt following a report by Nikkei that Obama was moving toward naming Summers the next Fed chairman, citing “several close US sources,”  pushing stocks modestly lower in Europe, with bond yields higher. According to the report, Obama is to name Summers as next Fed chairman as early as late next week, after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Otherwise, risk is still digesting the news of the confidential Twitter IPO, as it is becoming quite clear that some of the largest names (Hilton also announced yesterday) are seeking to cash out in the public markets. Is this the top?

As the AFL-CIO blows off Obamacare, it seems unions have been hard at work in recent days. In a ruling on Tuesday, current and former 'dancers' from the tastefully decorated (from what we hear) Midtown Manhattan Rick's Cabaret have won a class-action suit that protects them under labor laws and entitles them to minimum wage at least. The club, having argued unsuccessfully that the strippers were independent contractors, plans to appeal the Judge's ruling that the dancers are 'the main attraction" and integral to it success (though personally we would only go there to read the articles). Whether this will raise (or lower) the price per dance, VIP room access fees, mark-ups on beer and bottles of vodka, or acceptance (or not) of EBT cards has yet to be made clear.

Moments ago The Hill reported that the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the US and one of Obama's staunchest supporters, is expected to consider a resolution, "subject to fierce internal debate, that will call for changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — setting up a potential floor vote this Wednesday before the convention closes." In other words, the one constituency that was supposed to be among the biggest benefactors from Obamacare is about to launch a formal criticism of Obamacare as "frustration has grown within labor as the Obama administration has failed to offer a fix to temper union worries over the law."

But at least "they passed it."

While the world is currently glued to the events surrounding Syria; the reality is that such an event has very little to do with the real economy.  The surges in expectations by business is very interesting given the actual demand that drives the real economy.  Real employment remains weak and corporate earnings are struggling given the diminishing returns of cost cutting. The recent increases in interest rates also have a very important "tightening" effect on the "Main Street" economy which will also likely suppress consumption in coming months somewhat.  Also not likely factored in to current survey's is the upcoming debt ceiling debate and the onset of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The ACA is a de facto increase in taxes and there is a potential for further tax hikes coming from the budget debate. The current NFIB survey suggests that the economy is still stuck in "struggle mode" and an acceleration above 2% real economic growth is currently unlikely.  The divergence between expectations and real demand will likely converge in the next couple of months so we will see businesses follow through with their optimisitic outlooks - "Overall, the Index of Optimism says the small business sector is going nowhere and that's what it feels like."

• Obama Shrinking Second-Term Hastened by Syria Opposition (BBG)
• Obama says Russian proposal on Syria a potential 'breakthrough' (Reuters)
• Poll Finds Support Fading for Syria Attack (WSJ)
• France to Introduce Resolution Aimed at Dismantling Syria's Chemical Arsenal (WSJ)
• Apple to Unveil IPhones Seeking End to Year of Struggles (BBG)
• Verizon Plans Largest Debt Sale Ever: Proceeds From Deal, Expected to Raise $20 Billion, Would Fund Venture Buyout (WSJ)
• Shipping Rates Seen at 2010 High on Record Ore to China (BBG)
• Ads coming to Twitter: Twitter makes its largest acquisition, a mobile ad company (FT)
• Houses on fire as fighting erupts in southern Philippines (Reuters)
• Banks Seen at Risk Five Years After Lehman Collapse (BBG)

110,000 current and soon to be eligible retirees working for IBM woke up to an unpleasant surprise this morning, when the WSJ reported that as a result of soaring healthcare costs, the tech bellwether giant will be terminating its company-sponsored health plan and instead giving (soon to be former) beneficiaries a lump sum payment to buy coverage on a health-exchange: a move which the WSJ characterized as indicating that employers are unlikely to keep providing the once-common benefits as medical costs continue to rise. The reason why all IBM retirees will have to find alternative, third-party, retirement coverage upon hitting the Medicare eligible age of 65 is that "IBM said the growing cost of care makes its current plan unsustainable without big premium increases." And to avoid those premium increases, the costs will find a clearing price either in a private exchange (supposedly competitive, realistically monopolistic), or will end up commingled with other public healthcare funding. End result: IBM benefits, everyone else loses.

Labor Secretary Perez crossed the credibility line on his second day at the job.