Posted on 05/14/2004 9:21:40 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Air America, the tottering monument to liberal hubris in the talk radio industry, may be about to change hands again, according to the Chicago Tribune. Its internal state of chaos is so great that employees, who had the cost of health insurance coverage deducted from their paychecks, were apparently never enrolled in a health insurance plan.
This must certainly be an oversight, rather than fraud. The devotion of liberals to health care coverage for all is so well-known that it is inconceivable that this could be deliberate. Incompetence, not criminality, must be at work.
Major hat-tip to Michael Nadler, who points out that while intent is critical to asessing criminality in a case like Air America's failure to pay for health insurance, if Air America also neglected to pay the I.R.S. the withholding taxes it deducted from employees' paychecks, as they did with health insurance, they would be "toast."
Having lost its two most important affiliate stations, bounced paychecks, laid off staff, closed advertising sales offices, and fired its two top officers, not to mention putting out an embarrassingly tedious and sophomoric programming product, the company may now return to the hands of its two original founders, Democrat donors Sheldon and Anita Drobny.
As a privately-held company, the public may never learn the details of the ownership odyssey which saw at least two changes in majority control after the Drobnys unloaded their controlling block of shares. According to the Tribune’s source, the Drobnys have an outside investor’s money to work with in their negotiations to re-assume control.
Strangely enough, the left-leaning press outlets like the New York Times, which devoted enormous attention to Air America when it was a pending venture, are curiously uninterested in the troubles being experienced in the actual operation of the business. Usually, liberal journalists take delight in business scandals. Imagine the headlines if an Enron or Halliburton pocketed employees’ health insurance deductions without actually covering them with health insurance!
Little more on the insurance waiting period. I have been employed by a company before that you were eligible for health benefits day 1. Others you had to wait 90 days. I don't know the reason for the difference, but I strongly suspect the difference was company policy vs. insurance company policy. I would think the company would want to wait and make sure you are sticking around before shelling out the expense of benefits.
Airhead America assumed it had a huge market that just wasn't there. A blogger had an interesting take on how Air America overlapped with NPR and more importantly, didn't account for the vastly more popular black and Spanish radio stations in the big cities. That surely hurt them big time in Chicago and Los Angeles. It's thrilling to see the Airheads stew in their own business incompetency.
http://crispus.blogspot.com
I've said it before on other AA threads...don't be surprised to see an announcement that Air America is being picked up by NPR. A marriage made in heaven.
Betcha a nickel all they got were pink slips.
You know, when I was a small boy I thought that my mom was the richest person that I'd ever met, because she had thirty or forty bucks in her purse. I grew up, and outgrew that notion.
I had no problem with the listen live link.
Oh, it was stoopid.
When I saw Franken on there, I said to my wife, "Watch, they'll rig it for him to win." Sure enough, first Jeopardy round had a category titled "Saturday Night Live Presidents."
I kid you not - they spotted Franken $1500, since he of course ran the table on that category.
I also told my wife that they rigged it by putting him up against the ditsy blonde (Carlson was AWFUL) and the Sportscaster. Well into Double Jeopardy I said, "I've seen 'Jeopardy Kids Tournaments' with questions tougher than these." One of the higher-dollar Double Jeopardy answers was basically "This is the capital of Virginia."
It was completely insufferable.
That's BS. It takes so long for the IRS to catch these kinds of shenanigans that the "company" is usually long gone before being caught, and the IRS is left holding the bag. Tens of billions are lost each year this way.
Surely this will lead the 6 O Clock news....and be fornt page for tomoorows NYSlimes.....Right?
Al Franken brings his gifted politcal insight to "Air America". His unique inside knowledge of the American political scene and the internal psyche of the average America makes him a natural at honing in on the critical issues at the forefront of everyone's mind. His sensitivity in such matters of patriotism, American sovereinty, wholesome family and religious values allows him to relate to all Americans at every level and pursuade each of them to see his side of every arguement. His keen debating skills coupled with his innate ability to recall specific facts as they relate to the subject make him a formidable debator. He is the perfect person to lead "Air America's" lineup of liberal superstars.
OK, it's Friday, I took the afternoon off and I'm on my second single-malt scotch. Forgive me, y'all...
I'll let others hit their website - I withhold all my Internet hits from Air Jazerra.
It goes far deeper than that. This shows the depravity of these liberal FraudCasters - they would be hooting and hollering if ANY conservative business were in the process of failing this spectacularly, after such a huge build up.
Old Media no longer deserves the protections granted by "freedom of the press".
.
Bachelor of Science in Early Child Development.
I hope at least you charged a the highest rate of interest that would not legally constitute usury in your state!
Nope. Prevailing bank rates. I am a capitalist, a "compassionate" capitalist....;^)
Then she was a cheap-jack crook.
No, she's not a crook. She did not have any education or experience about business and how much government interferes. She was a Liberal Democrat and was/is naive and ignorant about the real world of business. I haven't seen her in years, but I'll wager she either became a Republican (after being mugged by the gov't) or closed her day care.
Drive a stake through the heart.
That's a bit of an exaggeration. Most new employees have a waiting period for coverage of pre-existing conditions. Some may never be covered. But it depends on the size of the company and their clout.
Bingo!
"Atlas Shrugged" bump. When it was first published in 1957, the novel seemed like pure science fiction (okay, "social fiction"). But more and more it reads like the daily news. (For those who haven't yet read it, it explores the inevitable end results of liberalism/socialism/communism -- and the best way to defeat them.)
Total agreement here. This sounds like a very shaky enterprise. In fact, it shows how important business experience is, even though folks of the Dem persuasion seem to hate anything smacking of business, profit ... unless it affects them.
The points you raised were valid.
Then there's the theory that these folks live in such rarified air, that they don't see Academia, the major networks, NPR or the evening news, or the major newspapers, or Today... (we could go on and on), as leftist. They can't understand why folks won't tune in to hear the message, when their message is everywhere.
The carp about Limbaugh, then completely miss the fact that they have most the media outlets under their thumb. Well that was being too charitable. They know damn well they have these concerns under their thumb. It just bothers them that conservatism has a voice at all.
Screw 'em!
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