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The Empire Strikes Back
Power Line ^ | 3/27/2010 | John Hinderacker

Posted on 03/27/2010 2:43:45 PM PDT by tsmith130

We wrote here about the consequences of Obamacare that are beginning to be felt, even before its provisions are implemented: 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. A reader writes:


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: healthcare; lping; obamacare
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"Good post on the true cost of ObamaCare. But it gets better: the Dems are now shaking down CEOs who don't get with the program. In the attached letter, Henry Waxman not only orders the CEOs of AT&T, Caterpillar, Deere & Co, and Verizon to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee, but also to produce internal analyses and emails related to their statements. They don't expressly subpoena the CEOs, so we can hope that they tell the Dems to GFY, though somehow I doubt that will happen.

"The Dems sent these letters to the Republicans on the committee after 6pm tonight with no advance notice or prior cooperation."

1 posted on 03/27/2010 2:43:45 PM PDT by tsmith130
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To: tsmith130

Click on the Power Line link to see copies of the letters.


2 posted on 03/27/2010 2:44:07 PM PDT by tsmith130
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To: tsmith130

All according to plan: this has never been about health care; it IS about destroying America.


3 posted on 03/27/2010 2:49:19 PM PDT by Jerrybob
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To: tsmith130

I still can’t wait to see the DUmmie tears flow when their rents go up to cover the Medicare tax on rental income. Or they see those big chunks of the their checks vanish into that “long term care” thing.


4 posted on 03/27/2010 2:52:02 PM PDT by GeronL (All politicians are POS. Some are just piled higher and smell worse.)
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To: tsmith130
" Henry Waxman>

Does anyone know what is up with that ugly nose of his? To much coke or a birth defect? Either way he can kiss my a@@. Well maybe not. He is probably not sanitary enough to do so.

5 posted on 03/27/2010 2:53:02 PM PDT by blackbart.223 (I live in Northern Nevada. Reid doesn't represent me.)
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To: tsmith130
As the Wall Street Journal put it so aptly today...

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.

Who you going to believe? CEOs and CFOs running their corporations in accordance with required accounting rules and SEC regulations? Or slimy Dem Senators and Representatives who say the "law was designed to bring costs down"?

6 posted on 03/27/2010 2:53:58 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: tsmith130

Well, I read the letter, and I could not say it “orders” them to appear. The letter uses the word, “request”, although the effect may be similar.


7 posted on 03/27/2010 2:54:21 PM PDT by mtrott
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To: tsmith130

The Republicans will not have to worry about repealing “Obamacare”. “Obamacare” will kill itself and take Obama and the entire Democrat Party with it. Once the American people see third world medical care at top dollar prices, unemployment rising, doctors leaving their practice and companies taking away health care benefits and the overall USA economy tanking big time. Obama and his communist Democrat Party will be toast. Actually, Obama and his Democrat lock-steppers that hate America, are not rising in the polls. Just do an overall check and you will see the true facts. Obama is living in a failed Presidency, the fool just does not know it!!!


8 posted on 03/27/2010 2:54:41 PM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX
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To: tsmith130

How do we deny that we are socialist already? The fundamental
transformation has taken place. The only thing to wonder about
is just how our new overlords will frustrate the election process.


9 posted on 03/27/2010 2:55:51 PM PDT by JimSEA
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To: tsmith130
I meant to include the closing paragraph, too. It's a winner!

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.

They shot themselves in the foot with a stinker of a bill that nobody read. Or as the Queen Bee said, "you have to pass it before reading it."

10 posted on 03/27/2010 2:56:37 PM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: tsmith130
Hadn't heard about the Medtronics one. Here's a link to their news release.

That one hits closer to home, as my son uses a Medtronix insulin pump.

11 posted on 03/27/2010 2:57:15 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: tsmith130

So much for avoiding a double-dip recession...


12 posted on 03/27/2010 2:57:54 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
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To: tsmith130
ne of their priorities is to "ensure there are no unintended consequences"

Now how does one legislate that! There will be no unintended consequence or the beatings will continue!

13 posted on 03/27/2010 2:58:58 PM PDT by neodad (USS Vincennes (CG 49) "Freedom's Fortress")
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To: r9etb

I think 3M posted their losses yesterday too. Wonder how they dodged the ‘request to appear’ letter? Maybe they haven’t and we just don’t know about it yet.


14 posted on 03/27/2010 3:00:43 PM PDT by tsmith130
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To: tsmith130

15 posted on 03/27/2010 3:01:19 PM PDT by jessduntno (B. Hussein Obama...I look at him and think, in the words of Biden, "Big F***ing deal.")
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To: tsmith130

The reason they have to pay money is that they’re losing their subsidy... we need to get away from employer based health insurance...


16 posted on 03/27/2010 3:02:48 PM PDT by bahblahbah
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To: bamahead; Arthur Wildfire! March; sickoflibs; rabscuttle385

ping


17 posted on 03/27/2010 3:07:52 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: bahblahbah

“We”?


18 posted on 03/27/2010 3:08:46 PM PDT by APFel (Regnum Nostrum Crescit)
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To: JLAGRAYFOX

I hope you’re right but fear that it may be expecting a lot from your average obot.....


19 posted on 03/27/2010 3:09:22 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: bahblahbah
The reason they have to pay money is that they’re losing their subsidy... we need to get away from employer based health insurance...

Don't worry...we're about to.

20 posted on 03/27/2010 3:09:52 PM PDT by tsmith130
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