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.
Also heard that ATT in the San Diego area is going to cut 5,000 jobs.
Bring it losers.
Then after November, we can have OUR show trials of all of the MSM Exec’s and how they have been institutionally lying to America so they can enable their Marxist takeover of the country!
Ping
hijack = steal,rob,force,coerce>
Seems to me we gave everything away in 2006 and 2008.
I think we got what we deserve as a country because of the voters by 52% wanted "Hope and Change".
Never asked what that "hopey, changie thing might include, even though whatshisname told us much of the changes he intended to give us.
One in particular was nationalized health care. Another was redistribute the wealth. His private civilian Army hasn't surfaced yet, but I am sure it is in the making and will be used against any citizen of this country that goes against his (whatshisname's) will.
Elections really do have consequences.
Could not AGREE MORE.
As a side note, just think about how many (maybe a million or more combined) of the retirees, now facing a huge WHACK in their benefits,are gonna WAKE THE F--K up and become dyed-in-the-wool conservatives.
BRING ON YOUR FRIGGIN' SHOW TRIALS and may GOD give these Exec's some backbone.
That is exactly what's happened. And the media keeps putting a happy face on it. God save us.
They need to take a cue from Lee Iacocca
Oh yes. American Citizens will be casting their vote, you can count on it.
These chairmen have entirely too much power.
DemoPigots don’t like being exposed as being worse than the Soviet goons.
Show trials?
Seriously?
So even more hidden info can come out about this crappy legislation?
Yeah, sure, you betcha.
What in the world, Mr. Gateway "Pundit?"
Do you refuse to believe they are intentionally demolishing our free American society, violating us, in order to foment their Marxist revolution, as they put their infrastructure in place?
Who doesn't see this, anymore?
See, Intended Consequences: Obamacare Bomb Blowing Up More American Businesses and take the links from there, Mr. Holt.
I hope you are right, and that only ‘informed citizens’ get to vote!
SWEET! Now those CEO’s can drum up a whole crapload of truth that WE can use in the bloggosphere and the internet to spread more of the honest truth about Obamacare and how unconstitutional it is.
This should yield hours of footage for NakedEmperorNews!
Always darkest before dawn
Small objects fly at night
Rot in hell Commie pigs
A new home for you
We will dig
These dems insist on debating the bill with people who have actually read it, while it appears they’ve stubbornly refused to read it.
I wonder if they’ll read it by the time they haul CEO’s back onto the carpet?
I hope those evil execs fly in on their private jets!
Only the delusional would think this monstrosity would be corporate-friendly.
Trials often get to the truth of the matter- however, thinking back to the way the 911 Commission handled those public hearings, I am not optimstic that the truth would emerge from this banana republic-type administration.
.......according to judicial analyst, and judge, Andrew P. Napolitano healthcare reforms amount to "commandeering" the state legislatures for federal purposes, which the Supreme Court has forbidden as unconstitutional. "The Constitution does not authorize the Congress to regulate state governments. Nevertheless, the Congress has told the state governments that they must modify their regulation of certain areas of healthcare, they must surrender their regulation of other areas of healthcare, and they must spend state taxpayer-generated dollars in a way that the Congress wants it done.(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com............
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Wall Street Journal | Jan. 2, 2010 | Orin Hatch et al
FR Posted by Military family member
The policy issues may be coming to an end, but the legal issues are certain to continue because key provisions of this dangerous legislation are unconstitutional. Legally speaking, this legislation creates a target-rich environment. We will focus on three of its more glaring constitutional defects. (Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
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States Can Check Washington's Power; by directly proposing constitutional amendments
WSJ 12/21/09 | DAVID B. RIVKIN JR. AND LEE A. CASEY
FR Posted 12/2/09 by rhema
For nearly a hundred years, federal power has expanded at the expense of the states—to a point where the even the wages and hours of state employees are subject to federal control. Basic health and safety regulations that were long exercised by states under their "police power" are now dominated by Washington.
The courts have similarly distorted the Constitution by inventing new constitutional rights and failing to limit governmental power as provided for in the document. The aggrandizement of judicial power has been a particularly vexing challenge, since it is inherently incapable of correction through the normal political channels.
There is a way to deter further constitutional mischief from Congress and the federal courts, and restore some semblance of the proper federal-state balance. That is to give to states—and through them the people—a greater role in the constitutional amendment process.
The idea is simple, and is already being mooted in conservative legal circles. Today, only Congress can propose constitutional amendments—and Congress of course has little interest in proposing limits on its own power. Since the mid-19th century, no amendment has actually limited federal authority.
But what if a number of states, acting together, also could propose amendments? That has the potential to reinvigorate the states as a check on federal power. It could also return states to a more central policy-making role.
The Framers would have approved the idea of giving states a more direct role in the amendment process. They fully expected that the possibility of amendments originating with the states would deter federal aggrandizement, and provided in Article V that Congress must call a convention to consider amendments anytime two-thirds of the states demand it.(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Related Stories:
Randy Barnett: The Case for a Federalism Amendment
Clarence Thomas: How to Read the Constitution
The SEC rules require these companies to disclose material changes to their operations. A huge increase in health care costs is material. So after Enron and Worldcom the Congress pushes for more corporate transparency with Sarbanes/Oxley (another cost adding regulation with no benefit) now the Democrats wants companies to hide material changes/costs from the public and their shareholders.
If I was a CEO, I’d go and lay out the costs and then I’d announce either some or all of the following changes due to Obamacare:
1) Higher health premiums to employees
2) Reduction in employee pay to offset higher health care costs
3) Employee layoffs due to higher health care costs.
These companies need to earn a certain return on their capital based on the riskiness of their business. If costs go up, they either need to offset it with higher revenues or cut costs elsewhere. And forget about raising prices in this economy.
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