And states are blaming obama care for cutting their government worker jobs and work hours. This illadvised Health Care Law is likely to cut more private sector jobs than the budgetcutting sequester. All of that and more coming up on the kudlow report coming up right now. First up tonights speaker of the house john boehner says republicans will not shut down the government over obama care. Cnbcs john harwood has that story for us. Good evening, john. Reporter Congress Returns in just over two weeks to a huge fight over Government Spending and debt. With no agreement in sight between the white house and congressional republicans, both sides are trying to prepare the ground for the battle and the economic bus tour president obama today tried to rally Public Opinion against a possibility of a Government Shutdown aimed at his Health Care Law. Most recently theres been threats that we would shut down the government unless we agreed to roll back the Health Care Reform thats about to provide millions of americans with Health Care Coverage for the first time. And thats not an economic plan. On a Conference Call with fellow republicans, House Speaker john boehner says he plans a shortterm funding bill once the fiscal year runs out next month. In doing that the speaker aimed to discourage members from seek a shutdown because he and other Republican Leaders fear it would backfire politically. That still leaves the question of what to do later this fall on the debt limit which some conservatives want to use as leverage against obama care, too, but that raises a more difficult risk, not just political damage, but economic damage as well, larry. All right. Now, the other big market story today, maybe the fed taper isnt coming up so fast. That seemed to be the message coming from the big conference in jackson hole, wyoming. Steve liesman is live in jackson hole. He interviewed several of the Federal Reserve members. Steve, what can you tell us . Good evening, larry, from jackson hole, there are differing opinions from fed officials about the next steps for the central bank. We interviewed three Federal Reserve banks today and we got three differing opinions. One group, Dennis Lockhart from atlanta suggest many the fed could, in fact, taper in september. The way im thinking of it at the moment is im actually looking at the data and asking if they deny or in some way undermine the basic outlook that i have in place. On that basis, then i can get comfortable with the move in september of some time. I do think if the data continue to progress as weve seen, and i do agree that we should edge down or taper or purchase later this year. But jim from st. Louis, he had another opinion. He thinks the data is sht clear enough and he thinks the Federal Reserve ought to wait. I dont think we have to be in any hurry in this situation. If the place is running low and we have mixed data on the economy. So, you know, i would be cautious. I would notnt to prejudge the meeting, but i think we want to take our time, assess whats going on before we make a move here. Among the Research Papers is one by noted economist robert hall who said one of the biggest mistakes the central bank could make was to withdraw stimulus too soon. Theres debate over the effectiveness and no consensus emerged here, larry. Back to you. Great reporting and we appreciate all of that. Stay with us, please. Our question now is how does this impact your investment portfolio. Lets ask our pros and jim muriel director of tjm institutional services. Hes with macro chief investment rf and lets welcome cnbcs newest financial mastermind dominic chu. Mastermind. I have to work to deserve that particular title, larry. All right. Weve lost Steve Liesman at least for the moment, and i think there are storms in jackson hole. I want to go to my friend jim muriel for starters, because im on the camp, and the stanford economist and the National Bureau of research and i dont think theres any hurry and i dont see a secondhalf rebound and i dont think the economy is even remotely strong and therefore, jim muriel, i dont see what the rush is. Why not at least wait until december when they have a better handle on things. I think what we saw today that housing number was bad this morning and when you look at the housing which is arguably the most highly correlated to changes in Interest Rates and weve seen Mortgage Applications trend down while existing home sales have been doing quite well and some will tell you that Mortgage Applications is the most forward looking because there is a 6090day lag time in the indicator and now we see the new home sales which is terrible and makes us think that perhaps existing home sales will crumble fairly quickly, too. So i changed my mind today thinking theyll taper in september or october, but they dont make decisions like traders do. Im sure theyre looking at it right now thinking what are we supposed to do. I think theyll come to the conclusion that it is too early. You changed your mind today and you changed your mind on the basis of the new home sales, is that correct . That was a bad number. A little flimsy number. A little flimsy number for the existing home sales. I wouldnt normally hang my hat totally on the new home numbers and i was looking at housing because of the divergence between Mortgage Applications and existing home sales. Dominic chu. First off, does the stock market want the fed to wait, hold back on the taper or not . There is a debate about that. Of course, is good news good news or is good news bad news . Good news used to be this idea that maybe it would make the fed want to taper and take the foot off of the accelerator. You see Interest Rates start to cell accelerate and whats interesting is your comment and the inflation picture in this country is not there. Cpi is, what . 1. 2 , maybe along those lines and there is no real fear. The real fear for these central bankers all over the world is deflati deflation. What if we go into the price spiral to the down side. What does that mean for the markets . That could be devastating and what youre seeing for the stock market right now is an orderly decline. Were not seeing that panic that we see during the debt downgrade or anything else with regard to the market volatility and thats the reason why its important and this is not exactly a panicked selloff in the markets and theyre still doing pretty well. The corrections come and go. This one doesnt look like much of a big correction yet. But what happens if they hold back until december . I want to get to the Government Shutdown stuff, too, because i think thats going to be very important and just on the feds story, what about what robert hall said . The biggest danger is tightening too soon. Anybody can say that, larry, because thats just what the word too means. Theres a danger in tightening too, yellow, too green or come on, you dont have to make a ph. D from stanford to make a stanford like that. Go back to the beginning of 2009 when the fed started its first asset purchases and it started them, it stopped them and it started them again and its done different sizes and gone on hiatus, come back. You cannot find any robust, correlation that will satisfy anybody that any of this stuff theyve done other than the very first mortgagebacked security in 2009 have made any difference to anything. Ben bernanke started talking about tapering on may 22nd. The stocks had a 5 or 6 correction. Now theyve had a 3 or 4 correction. Oh, come on. This taper thing doesnt matter. The tapering thing does matter. If you were pulling the levers are you saying that they should move back quickly from stimulus and you wouldnt think that would cause some sort of panic . Theyve been talking about tapering since may 22nd. Theres no evidence that it makes any difference. I agree. Thats just the thing we talking heads can say and theres no evidence and any of the stuff theyve done. So did it bigger or do it smaller, who cares . You dont know the counter factual and what would have happened if they didnt do it. Dominic, ill just say this. I dont think the Federal Reserve affects unemployment and real gdp and those kinds of variables. I dont think thats what they do and those are tax and regulatory and fiscal issues, but heres what bernanke did. I think he poured in a lot of cash and i may not like the way he structured the portfolio, but whatever. The demand for cash in a deleveraging society, the demand for cash when people didnt want to take any risk and were totally risk averse, following the Great Recession and the selloff of 08 and i think bernanke finally figured out that we need cash, banks want cash. Consumers want cash. I think thats his singular contribution. The demand for cash. He supplied it. Its not just that. What we have is the supply out there for it, but now you have to see the demand for the cash pick up, right . What jims point about the new home sales it is important because it is one data point that this is a u. S. Housing recovery. Its modest and not gangbusters, but its going along. Will it continue if there still is this idea that Interest Rates are headed higher and there isnt that demand there. Will rates on the rise zap that demand. Actually, id be a bare of bonds now and nobody believes me. I would be a buyer of bonds for about 50 or 60 basis points and thats shortterm stuff. Im not a shortterm guy, but i think rates went way too far. Don luskin, no Government Shutdown and a very important point. Boehner made it very, very clear in a Conference Call to the republican conference and hes got the votes. Theres a letter circulated about defunding obama care and threatening a shutdown. Only 80 republicans signed it. 153 did not sign it, don, and even more now are saying argue for delay and not for defund. Stay away from the shutdown. Were going get through the end of the year with this. Thats got to be bullish for stocks. It is. Lets just say that its not bearish because i actually dont think that the stock market ever expected anything else. The republicans have done nothing, but kind of keep their lips zipped all year. Theyve had the opportunity to go ballistic about benghazi and the irs and the nsa, and theyve suspended the debt ceiling in february and they learned their lesson and theyll stop yapping about legitimate rate and shutting down the government and all of that stuff and theyll guide into a classic Midterm Election where theyll make gains in the senate and gains in the house and then theyll go into a classic president ial election in 2016 when history teaches us that pretty much, every two terms the white house changes party. It is the gops term and it is president christies turn. All they have to do is shut up for the next three years and that is their policy. They know that. Thats not bullish this year, that is so bullish for 2016. Okay. 2016. But jim muriel, ill just say this. Well have a more detailed discussion of obama care and the republicans fiscal policy later in the show, but ill say this. No shutdown means you will have an orderly situation come this fall. Thats got to be good. Boehner and cantor will not want to fiddle with the debt ceiling and thats got to be good. You know what else, jim muriel . My last point and i want to get your take. Boehner said today, it was not reported, but he said they are going to keep the sequester. The spending cut sequester. Me, i think lower spending is good for free market capitalism and its good for entrepreneurship. Obama hates the sequester, boehner said were going keep the sequester. Boehners playing with a good hand here. Hes got an inside straight. Obama will get whooped on this, and i think thats very bullish. Youve got the last word. Wait, was that a question because that was everything i said. I cant help myself. Just say yes, jim. Yes and the market does not act scared. The sequester was the end of the world if you would have sold stocks on that you would have lost. Sequester was bullish and it is a shared gdp is bullish and the Smaller Government is bullish and getting government out of the way is bullish. Free market prosperity is bullish. I have to get out of here. Don luskin, dominic chu will come back and give us news later on. We appreciate it, but now president obama doesnt seem to be at all certain to syrias use of chemical weapons. You know what on this one . I cant say that i blame obama. You know why . Americans do not want more foreign war commit ams and well get the latest on the syrian situation and what the president is saying just ahead and just in case you missed it. Let me repeat, free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity and that includes lower spending which happens to mean keep the sequester alive. Im kudlow, and i want to cut spending. Ill be right back. I am today by luck. I put in the hours and built a strong reputation in the industry. I set goals and worked hard to meet them. Ive made my success happen. So when it comes to my investments, im supposed to just hand it over to a broker and back away . Thats not gonna happen. Avo when you work with a schwab financial consultant, youll get the guidance you need with the control you want. Talk to us today. But you had to leave rightce to now, would you go . World, man oh i cant go tonight woman i cant. hero thats what expedia asked me. Host book the flight but you have to go right now. Hero laughs and i just go . This is for real right . This is for real . I always said one day id go to china, just never thought itd be today. Anncr were giving away a trip every day. Download the expedia app and your next trip could be on us. Expedia, find yours. The Obama Administration is still looking into whether syrias military used chemical weapons in an attack on civilians earlier this week. Lets bring in nbc news steve handelsman. Good evening, steve. What can you tell us. Reporter critics in washington are complaining that president obama delaying any u. S. Military response, if, in fact, he ever orders one and is giving a green light to syrias government to use chemical weapons again, but that wait might might soon be over. Here is a clue from former top obama adviser David Axelrod who is still wired in the white house from chicago. Axelrod said today he expects the president will take action. Maybe a Surgical Strike says axelrod, maybe setting up a nofly zone and maybe setting up a possible cruise missel strike and the president himself suggested that now, u. S. National security is at stake. He says if chemical weapons were used, the u. S. Forces in the region, not clear exactly which forces hes talking about might be in danger and the president cited a worry about proliferation, spreading chemical weapons. Presumably that could happen and by the rebels seizing chemical weapons and turning them over to al qaeda. Heres what he said on cnn. There is no doubt that when you start seeing chemical weapons used on a large scale and again, were still gathering information about this particular event and it is very troublesome. Still, the president is reluctant to act. Again, citing the lessons of iraq and afghanistan. Folks will call for immediate action, jumping in to stuff that does not turn out well. So, larry, the commander in chief met yesterday with his National Security team. Hell do it again in the future and the white house wont say exactly when and he will try not to make this thing look and sound too urgent. He has reportedly asked for targeting options and the pentagon would already have those. Hes asked that they be updated and the white house, no surprise in this, has said again, larry that even if an Inspection Team gets in and even if theres verification that chemical weapons were used and one thing the president will not order is u. S. Forces, Ground Forces to go into syria. Well, let me ask one quickie, steve, on this. Yes. If some military action is taken will the United States take it on its own or working with allies in europe or will the president insist on going through the United Nations where our own ambassador didnt even show up for a meeting a couple of days ago . You know, i think, and this is me saying this based on the president s previous performance on things like this, he is so reluctant and especially reluctant to go the ouz its own, to go alone. Youll remember in libya, the u. S. Military involvement was in concert with the brits, with the italians and with u. N. Mandates. Theres nothing like that now in syria. The russians who have a veto, you know, in the Security Council have sided with Bashir Al Assad and theyve put missiles in syria which would make it really tough to have a nofly zone, but lets put that aside. I think the educated guess from washington is, larry, no going it alone. No going it without some kind of a legal cover and absolutely no rush by president obama to make a decision. Back to you. No rush. Thank you, steve handelsman. Thank you ever so much. Welcome my free market friday panel. Im going ask you, are you satisfied with president obamas situation in syria so far. Here hoo is for the rest of the hour is aldin. Did i get it right . Roy, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and my good friend mark simone. Ahmed, what do you what do you want obama to do . Before we get into the prognostication of what he will do, what do you want him to do . I want obama to actually put his money where his mouth is. I want him to stop the empty rhetoric now for two and a hal