Free Republic

It hasn't attracted much notice, but recently some prominent advocates of Obamacare have spoken more frankly than ever before about why they supported a national healthcare makeover. It wasn't just about making insurance more affordable. It wasn't just about bending the cost curve. It wasn't just about cutting the federal deficit. It was also about redistributing wealth. Health reform is "an income shift," Democratic Sen. Max Baucus said on March 25. "It is a shift, a leveling, to help lower-income, middle-income Americans." In his halting, jumbled style, Baucus explained that in recent years, "the maldistribution of income in America has...

The news on healthcare reform this week is that right off the bat, the major corporations are discovering they will be losing stunning amounts to taxes as a result of Obamacare. Caterpillar, the first to speak out, reported it will take a one-time write-down of $100 million in order to account for the elimination of a federal tax refund it has been receiving for providing drug benefits to its retired employees. In the following days, AT&T, Verizon, 3M, Deer & Co., and AK Steel Holdings announced they would take similar write downs. AT&T's new tax bill will come to over...

A self-proclaimed "tea party Democrat" says he will announce plans to seek the Democratic nomination for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seat. Warren Mosler, a financier, founder of a sports car company and a former candidate for the U.S. Virgin Islands' nonvoting seat in Congress, is scheduled to formally announce his candidacy Wednesday at a Wallingford restaurant. A native of Manchester, the 61-year-old has lived in the Virgin Islands but says he recently relocated to Guilford to seek the nomination. He faces Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Mystic businessman Merrick Alpert. Mosler says he has a plan to fix the U.S. economy...