This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
On June 28, the day the Supreme Court ruled on the Affordable Care Act, the stock market (as measured by the Dow Jones Industrial Average) opened down at 12,529. The drop was attributed to an overnight reaction to events in Europe.
The market did not move materially at the time the court's opinion was issued. Around noon, Gov. Gary Herbert, reacting to the Supreme Court's opinion, used the politics of fear and said, "Now I suggest all of us, you watch the stock market and see what happens today."
Well, we watched. The Dow rose 150 points off the day's lows, closing at 12,602 — nearly flat on the day. By Friday's close, the Dow had climbed another 280 points to 12,880 (again, a reaction to events in Europe).
If the governor believes that the Affordable Care Act is bad policy, let's hear his ideas to fix the health care system: how to provide insurance to uninsured Utahns and how to provide coverage to those who are denied it on account of pre-existing conditions.
But to make his point, a statesman needn't rely on the politics of fear or off-the-mark stock market prognostications.
Josh Kanter
Sandy