"...Dems threaten companies who complain about Obamacare costs"

[WhiskeyGirl]

Congressional Dems threaten companies who complain about Obamacare costs

First, John Hinderaker at Powerline:

    Caterpillar said Obamacare will cost it an additional $100 million in the first year; Medtronic warned that the new tax on its products "could force it to lay off a thousand workers;" Verizon told its employees that it "will likely have to cut healthcare benefits to offset the new costs;" and AT&T announced that it will record a $1 billion non-cash expense in the first quarter and "will be evaluating prospective changes to the active and retiree health care benefits offered by the company."

    These announcements are the tip of the iceberg; hundreds like them will follow as Obamacare becomes a reality. Congressional Democrats, evidently stung by the bad publicity, are trying to strike back.

Then, the threats:

    Meanwhile, Henry Waxman and House Democrats announced yesterday that they will haul these companies in for an April 21 hearing because their judgment "appears to conflict with independent analyses, which show that the new law will expand coverage and bring down costs."

    In other words, shoot the messenger. Black-letter financial accounting rules require that corporations immediately restate their earnings to reflect the present value of their long-term health liabilities, including a higher tax burden. Should these companies have played chicken with the Securities and Exchange Commission to avoid this politically inconvenient reality? Democrats don't like what their bill is doing in the real world, so they now want to intimidate CEOs into keeping quiet.

Apparently, in this brave new world created by Obamacare, having an opinion about its benefits that is at odds with the ruling party is not good for the health of one's company.

Waxman wants all internal communications connected to the analysis of how this provision will impact companies, including private emails. Andy McCarthy of NRO gets it right:

    If we are now under a system where disclosure gets you a public whipping and other threats by the Powers That Be while nondisclosure promises the ruinous expenses of defending against criminal investigations and civil enforcement, this is no longer anything but a thugocracy.

more here - http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/congressional_dems_threaten_co.html

Why isn't the CBO held to the same standards for scoring bills?

How can so many companies be wrong about the bottom line?

Any of those in the list compaining take TARP money?  Any insolvent?

[WhiskeyGirl]

From the comments -

Posted by: Jeanne T.   
Mar 28, 08:50 AM
"appears to conflict with independent analyses, which show that the new law will expand coverage and bring down costs."

What independent analyses? Perhaps the CEOs of these companies should demand that Waxman provide proof of his claims as well, or refuse to appear before the Comittee.

Does the CBO ever release it numbers?  All the details and assumptions?

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Private companies to explain themselves to feds"

And now, let’s add the biggest one to the list … AT&T. It says that it will take a $1 billion charge against earnings in the first quarter because of Obamacare. That’s “billion,” folks, with a “b.” This is because of changes to how Medicare subsidies are taxed. AT&T also says that it may cut benefits offered to current and retired workers. Analysts are predicting that retirees could lose their prescription drug coverage altogether.

Then, as you would expect, here come the Democrats. Our masters aren’t happy that some of these companies have come out of the gate so quickly with their predictions of negative economic consequences under ObamaCare. Remember, as The Community Organizer told us time after time .. ObamaCare would lower costs, create jobs, lower the deficit and keep asteroids from striking the earth until the year 8314.

So … looks like it’s time to flex the good old government muscles. And who better tto do that than our friend Henry Waxman from California? Henry Waxman has summoned the executives from some of these companies to Capitol Hill to defend these assessments. That’s right. Waxman wants these evil companies to come to Washington and testify as to exactly why they complied with the law. Waxman is also demanding that these bring internal company documents on their healthcare finances. The hearing is set for April 21. Here is the letter Waxman sent to several executives, including AT&T: “After the president signed the health care reform bill into law, your company announced that provisions in the law could adversely affect your ability to provide health insurance … The new law is designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions are a matter of concern … [these decisions] appear to conflict with independent analyses.”

Independent analysis? Waxman means “political analysis.”

This is the new America under a president who considers the private sector to be “the enemy.” The purpose of Waxman’s little dog and pony show is to intimidate corporate America. Don’t embarrass Obama right after his wonderful victory with ObamaCare. Remember … government, not the private sector, is paramount in our country right now. Businesses exist to support government, not the other way around.

Aren’t you just loving all this change?

more here - http://www.smallgovtimes.com/2010/03/private-companies-to-explain-themselves-to-feds/

How much do you think your health insurance premiums will go up?  50%?  100%

[WhiskeyGirl]

A reader e-mailed Mark Steyn at The Corner on National Review Online regarding the financial impact on companies that Obamacare has had - immediately. Pay close attention here.

        3M Corporation announced that it was taking a 12 cent per share charge to earnings for the effects of the health care bill. The costs here are really of two varieties. First, is the hard costs that shows up on company's income statement and is reflected in the reduced earnings per share. The second cost is the effect of the reduced earnings per share on the company's market value. 3M sells for about 18 times its earnings per share which means that a 12 cent charge reduces the stock price by about $2.16. Multiply that by 711 million shares outstanding and you get a reduction in the market value of the company of about $1.5 billion.

    That's one business. It would be interesting to know just how much value last Sunday's vote instantly vaporized at, say, the S&P 500 companies. We will soon enough.

And, again via NRO, as Victor Davis Hanson reminds, In the End, There Is Only the Debt. And climbing out from under this debt is impossible while we as a nation continue to pile the dirt of debt upon our financial grave.

    Amid all the fighting over health care, Obama's new promises, the Israeli spat, the Frum controversy, et al., looms the national debt. We can ignore it; get angry at it and say, "What the hell, I'll quadruple it!"; have our "experts" write sophistic treatises about how it either doesn't matter or is in truth good; hear our politicians claim it is secondary to the passing of a "progressive" agenda; or secretly smile that its service will require higher taxes and more "redistributive change"; but in the end, what we as a nation collectively owe others and ourselves transcends politics.

    Cranky 19th-century-minded farmers used to preach about the tentacles of low interest. Apparently they had this strange idea that when interest rates went too low, the uninformed mob-like masses borrowed too much -- and the resulting live-for-today demand for cheap money forced the once-endless pool of ready loans to dry up and interest to rise -- and a few smarter people were sticking around to profit when this cycle played out like clockwork.

    In short, the United States is floating far more loans than ever before in peacetime, and for longer scheduled durations, because interest rates are only a quarter of what they have been in the past. But this theory that we can endlessly multiply the size of our debt because the service costs remain low and static is a prescription for disaster -- like the credit-card introductory offer of 2 to 3 percent for 6 months that hooks the naive into charging thousands of dollars, only to end up without the means to service the debt when the rate climbs over 20 percent. For a technocracy that is Ivy League certified and brags about its competency, we have fallen into the age-old trap that snares the naive ARM house buyer, the teenaged MasterCard mega-borrower, and the "free" coupon holder who heads headlong to Vegas.

This is the recipe used to cook Mexico - or if your news cycle attention span prefers, Greece.

The talk of a VAT tax will gain much momentum, probably coming to a head in 2012 debates. But the uncomfortable truth will remain: As we punish our businesses and vilify their CEO's, the economy is relentlessly constricted by all levels of American government like a team of angry pythons. And extracting tax revenues from it will become soon akin to squeezing blood from a stone.

Obamacare is merely a component; indeed, like a gateway drug.

We are witnessing the antithesis to the Laffer Curve. And it should be dubbed the Crier Curve.

It is a curve along the path that has but one name: Unsustainable.

http://wizbangblog.com/content/2010/03/29/bankrupting-liberty.php