The ObamaCare Writedowns

This wasn't a very long article,so I'm quoting the entire text,because nothing it is saying should be left out.

Of course,this is Political Madness at it's finest.

It's a great big "We told you so!" to all the supporters of Obamacare that were so elated over it's empty promises.

I'm sure there are going to be more stories like this,since the bill has passed. As Pelosi said,"We have to pass the bill so we can see what's in it!"

Give America a blindfold and a cigarette,and just keep firing away! Amnesty and Biometric I.D. cards are right around the corner!

I'm at the point of saying,"Let it fall!" We stopped being a Republic a long time ago. I don't even think we are officially the "50 United States of America" anymore,since Obama Executively Ordered the implementation of Regional Government.Remember that?(I know,it's hard to keep up!)...

As Obama said,they've been trying to pass this for "100 years". They just had to get people dumb and distracted enough to fall for it. All they had to do was say it was "Free"!( Forgetting the fact that if it sounds too good to be true...it is!)

Children with pre-existing conditions? Oops! They "forgot" to include them in the bill!(Remember all those newborn's DNA being stored? For what? To identify "pre-existing conditions?)... Employers coerced into dumping everyone onto Medicaid/Medicare(?),when doctors and pharmacies are increasingly denying patients to the governments inability to reimburse them. About a third of doctors pledging to quit when this whole thing takes hold...It goes on and on....

Feel free to add your own example of the negative effects this bill will have. As for positive effects...? Ha! Prove there will be any!(Unless you're in the gov't family of bloodsuckers,there aren't any!)


From the Wall Street Journal,Mar.27th...online.wsj.com...

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."


Perhaps that explains why the Administration is now so touchy. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke took to the White House blog to write that while ObamaCare is great for business, "In the last few days, though, we have seen a couple of companies imply that reform will raise costs for them." In a Thursday interview on CNBC, Mr. Locke said "for them to come out, I think is premature and irresponsible."

Meanwhile, 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.

As Joe Biden might put it, this is a big, er, deal for shareholders and the economy. The consulting firm Towers Watson estimates that the total hit this year will reach nearly $14 billion, unless corporations cut retiree drug benefits when their labor contracts let them.

Meanwhile, John DiStaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader reported this week that ObamaCare could cost the Granite State's major ski resorts as much as $1 million in fines, because they hire large numbers of seasonal workers without offering health benefits. "The choices are pretty clear, either increase prices or cut costs, which could mean hiring fewer workers next winter," he wrote.

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.

reply to post by On the Edge


May I use your thread in conjunction with one of mine....

Of course the businesses have to report it... These guys are in it for money. So when they say they will lose it Id listen at least half the time....

I wont to quote it and link to it. Its part of a strategy I have myself....

S&F

reply to post by ripcontrol


There's no law against it,so be my guest!

Hopefully you will use it in the "positive" sense,and not to call me an idiot or something!

Where are all the leftist pundits. It's amazing anything that proves this bill is just an economy killer and just another tax scheme.....poof....no where to be seen.

Keep posting the proof, sooner or later the ignorant, MAY wake up.

S&F

Rock, hardplace. The administration will go after you if you do what the SEC asks, and SEC will go after you if you do what the administration asks.

Typical. Any smart company will just give the finger to the administration so they don't have to deal with the SEC.

reply to post by endisnighe


You keep doing the same!

You know,at the rate things are going,we're never going to run out of issues to rub their noses in! (Sorry,that wasn't a nice thing to say!)

No one likes to admit when they've been "hoodwinked" and "bamboozled".

Some of us saw this coming long before Obama got elected,by taking the time to find out where his affections really were and didn't just listen to the hype being sold to us.

I guess that "spread the wealth" philosophy is deeply ingrained in some folks though. Wanting equal outcomes instead of equal opportunities.

So,we're all going to be equally poor and enslaved. Will they all be happy then?

reply to post by DINSTAAR


How can they actually do that and get away with it?

Regulations and such can get pretty complicated...but we shall see!

I know "It ain't over til it's over"!

reply to post by On the Edge

How can they actually do that and get away with it?

If you mean, 'How can the government break its own rules?' then the answer is easy. All rules created by the government only apply to the governed. If the government had to follow its own rules, the constitution would be more than the useless piece of paper that it is.

Remember when the TARP was coming out and Goldman Sachs was forced by Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Geitner to take the TARP money, even though they didn't want or need it. This was illegal, but they are above that.

You see, government is a more advanced being that doesn't have to follow the lowly rules of us mortals.

reply to post by DINSTAAR


Ok,I see what you were saying! Thanks!

(It's been a long day!)...

Have a good weekend!