Posted on 03/28/2010 10:37:37 AM PDT by American Dream 246
Dems Threaten Congressional Show Trials After US Companies Leak Real Economic Damage of Obamacare
Late last week several US corporations leaked how the democrat’s health care bill will kill their businesses. The radicals in Congress were not pleased that these corporations would go public with this devastating information. In response, democrats threatened to call for Congressional show trials to publicly humiliate these corporations. The Wall Street Journal reported:
It’s been a banner week for Democrats: ObamaCare passed Congress in its final form on Thursday night, and the returns are already rolling in. Yesterday AT&T announced that it will be forced to make a $1 billion writedown due solely to the health bill, in what has become a wave of such corporate losses.
This wholesale destruction of wealth and capital came with more than ample warning. Turning over every couch cushion to make their new entitlement look affordable under Beltway accounting rules, Democrats decided to raise taxes on companies that do the public service of offering prescription drug benefits to their retirees instead of dumping them into Medicare. We and others warned this would lead to AT&T-like results, but like so many other ObamaCare objections Democrats waved them off as self-serving or “political.”
…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.
On top of AT&T’s $1 billion, the writedown wave so far includes Deere & Co., $150 million; Caterpillar, $100 million; AK Steel, $31 million; 3M, $90 million; and Valero Energy, up to $20 million. Verizon has also warned its employees about its new higher health-care costs, and there will be many more in the coming days and weeks.
The last paragraph says it all about the democrat’s trickery:
The Democratic political calculation with ObamaCare is the proverbial boiling frog: Gradually introduce a health-care entitlement by hiding the true costs, hook the middle class on new subsidies until they become unrepealable, but try to delay the adverse consequences and major new tax hikes so voters don’t make the connection between their policy and the economic wreckage. But their bill was such a shoddy, jerry-rigged piece of work that the damage is coming sooner than even some critics expected.
Byron York at The Washington Examiner has more on the show trials.
Waxman is also demanding that the executives give lawmakers internal company documents related to health care finances — a move one committee Republicans describes as “an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents of the Democrats’ flawed health care reform legislation.”
…Waxman has ordered the executives to explain themselves at an April 21 hearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee’s investigative subcommittee. That subcommittee just happens to be chaired by Rep. Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who held out his vote on health care reform until a few hours before final passage on March 21, giving the bill’s opponents the unfounded hope that he might vote against it.
Waxman’s demands came Friday in letters to several executives. “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,” Waxman wrote to Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO of AT&T. A few hours before Waxman sent his letter, AT&T announced it will take a $1 billion charge against earnings because of the tax provision in the new health bill. AT&T also said it will be “evaluating prospective changes” to its health care benefits for all workers…
Waxman’s request could prove particularly troubling for the companies. The executives will undoubtedly view such documents as confidential, but if they fail to give Waxman everything he wants, they run the risk of subpoenas and threats from the chairman. And all as punishment for making a business decision in light of a new tax situation.
These democrats in Washington are nothing but thugs. They’ll try anything to keep the truth from coming out about their disastrous legislation.
Stalin would love this.
Bring it on you morons!!!
Hopefully, all these companies will offer a polite “no thanks”.....
Lantos: “At least AD-miral BOrrrrr-Dah had the decency to . . .”
They don’t care, and barely know, what was in it. The only thing that mattered to them was for the Kenyan to sign some bill entitled “health care”.
RATs and Elitists in Congress, watch this and smell your defeat. Bye Bye Socialists.
http://citizenpalin4president.blogspot.com/2010/03/local-international-news-sarah-palin.html
I wish for once these company owners would just be good Americans, speak the truth, stand up to the Waxmans of the world and have some faith in doing the right thing. Stop trying to make deals with the devil.
Obama “Chicago style thug tactics” are alive and well. The harsh truth here is that our Government has been hijacked by Marxists that do not REPRESENT US, but rather, seek to CONTROL US. Scary stuff, folks.
Wellll.... if judge greer (terri's death judge) can thumb his nose at Congress (HE was supeoned (sp?) to appear in congress & ignored it), I guess these companies can do the same, yes?
I don’t think that they can be compelled to show up. Not a single one should.
Threaten this, threaten that, this pseudo government is all about coercion and threatening.
Listen up you Democrap morons, if all of this was so wonderful, no threatening and coercion would be necessary now, would it?
Hey Obama, if you are reading this, we’ve had more than enough of your sh_t!!!!!
I wonder how many of the CEOs of these companies gave money to zero?
Bingo! They should go in and lay out the truth about how the expensive this new reform really is.
At the very least, they should look for a continuance until November 3rd, 2010.
If they do show up, I hope they put on a show that would shame the red carpet at the Oscars! Fly in on those big personal jets, drive in with those big expensive cars, wearing thousand dollar suits. Those capitalism promoting companies EARN their money (yes, some reform is needed, but earning money isn’t a bad thing!) while those lunkheads in Congress merely STEAL other peoples’ money!!!! >:-(
First druther is that the companies snub the LIEberals in Congress and tell them they can’t make it because they’ve got their shirt sleeves rolled up and they are hard at work trying to save their companies against all odds!
Pretty much Nazi Germany right now. Where are the camps?
Pray for America
I don't know why so many people think this. Of course they could be compelled. So far, it's just a letter. But Waxman (who is a prolific subpoena issuer) could simply issue a subpoena if he they decline. Congressional subpoena power is robust - virtually unlimited.
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