And Now, It Begins To Really Hurt

CNN Money:

The Dow Jones industrial average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined about 0.5% in early trading Monday. The sell-off erased some of last week's huge gains, when the Dow rallied 460 points over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

"Just when you thought it was safe to assume progress on the budget impasse, the weekend has proved to be frustratingly slow in terms of positive developments," wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Gael Gunubu, in a client note. "Markets are responding accordingly … as last week's hope that we would see an early-week deal has evaporated."

As The Hill reports, the ongoing dual crises over the shutdown of the federal government and the upcoming expiration of the government's borrowing authority is creating an unlikely alliance between Wall Street and Democrats:

The White House has sought to enlist the financial industry in its effort to convince House Republicans to back a clean hike to the debt ceiling.

But while the financial industry has strong ties to many GOP lawmakers, it has struggled to break through to those fighting against a debt-limit boost the hardest. Conservative Republicans who rode the Tea Party wave to power have few ties to deep-pocketed financial interests. [Pols emphasis]

Before the strong close at the end of the week, the Dow had posted steady losses ever since Boehner agreed to push to defund the president’s healthcare law during the government funding fight.

As soon as a deal is reached on extending the nation's debt limit, the markets will immediately stabilize–just the increased likelihood of that, based on reported progress in negotiations, was enough to fuel last week's rally. On the other hand, if a deal isn't reached right away, the financial markets are likely to punish American lawmakers even more than the last GOP-engineered default crisis in 2011. This is the part we had hoped would be avoided by the apparent capitulation underway within the GOP last week, as new polls indicated a disastrous loss of support for them. Unfortunately, the weekend passed without agreement–and now, every day's negotiations begin to have real effects on the wealth of individual American citizens.

Here in Colorado, most Republican members of Congress have paid lip service to ending the shutdown, increasingly aware that they are being lopsidedly blamed for it. That lip service has not translated to successful action. In particular the unsteadiness of Rep. Mike Coffman has both weakened the Republican position by his publicly repudiating it after helping bring it about, and also marginalized Coffman by his being unable (or unwilling) to back up his newfound words. Among Democrats we've talked to, there's a recognition that they can't make anything more than token concessions in the face of a government shutdown and threats of default. If they do, they will legitimize the practice of high-stakes budgetary brinksmanship, and everyone will suffer the more for it. But what pound of flesh will Republicans ultimately need to save face?

It's an easy prediction that something will give, and soon, but beyond that we all have to wait and see.

View the original article here

Democrats Lavish Praise on GOP Rep. Amy Stephens (Yes, Really)

Rep. Amy Stephens (R-Focus on the Family).

A press release from the Colorado House Democratic Majority today celebrates the opening of Connect for Health Colorado, the state's new health insurance exchange and a major component of the federal Affordable Care Act:

“The window to a healthier future for Colorado opened today,” said Rep. McCann (D-Denver), who is chairwoman of the Health, Insurance & Environment Committee and vice chair of the Health Insurance Exchange Legislative Oversight Review Board. “Because our state will be healthier, it will be more productive and more prosperous.” 

Rep. McCann credited the legislators who supported the 2011 bill creating the new system. 

“I want to express again my thanks to Rep. Amy Stephens and the bipartisan majority that made this day possible,” [Pols emphasis] Rep. McCann said. “We have a bipartisan Colorado solution to implement the Affordable Care Act.” 

Rep. Stephens (R-Monument) and former Sen. Betty Boyd sponsored the bill that produced Connect for Health Colorado. Rep. Stephens and 12 other House Republicans, including then-Speaker Frank McNulty, joined House Democrats in support of the bill. The exchange also has strong business support.

It's useful to recall the bipartisan support for the new health insurance exchange when it was passed in 2011 today, since Republicans are doing their level best to portray inevitable startup glitches as catastrophic failures. FOX 31's Eli Stokols reports:

Colorado’s new health care exchange, an online marketplace offering more than 500 policies, experienced problems Monday morning just hours after it went live, as did exchanges in other states.

While opponents of the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s landmark health care reform law, viewed the news as evidence the law isn’t ready for primetime, backers of the law argued that the high demand, which they blame for overwhelming computer servers, shows that the law is actually quite popular. [Pols emphasis]

In Colorado, it's undeniably a bipartisan success–even if Republicans who helped create the exchange in Colorado would probably rather not take credit for that today. Remember, today is only the first day the exchange is live for the public to see. Insurance purchased through the exchange takes effect on January 1st of next year, and Coloradans have until December 15th to sign up. Today's startup glitches will get worked out, and we expect there will be a day soon when Rep. Amy Stephens will be delighted to refer to Connect for Health Colorado by its once-derisive name "Amycare."

View the original article here