Have you heard about the $1,000,000,000 writedown AT&T’s going to take as a first step in its attempt to afford what Obamacare’s going to do to it? How about John Deere at $150,000,000, 3M at $90,000,000, and Caterpillar at $100,000,000? There are others, and we’re just getting started. The consulting firm Towers Watson estimates the total bleeding might be $14,000,000,000 or thereabouts.
Well, that’s a problem for the Obama regime, isn’t it? Such consequences are clearly inconsistent with the desired narrative, which is that Obamacare will bring down costs. So, in response, Henry Waxman and his merry band of House Democrats are hauling these companies in for hearings next month. No, I’m not making that up. These insolent corporations dare to suggest that The One’s “reform” is going to cost them a lot of money, so let’s get them in here and singing the correct tune. More at this excellent Wall Street Journal piece, from which the above numbers also came.
I’ve been despondent this week, for obvious reasons. This really is a shot of hope, though. This bunch of jackass Democrat thugs, still bloated and belching from their feast upon our liberties and futures, has invited a large group of actual businesspeople (who understand how wealth is created, or in this case destroyed) to lecture them under oath on public record on exactly why and specifically how their precious god-king’s signature accomplishment will destroy the economy.
When these poor slobs in Congress see genuine accounting figures from real live executives instead of their tortured numerical fantasies, will their brains aspolde?
Its proponents tried to design the Obamacare power grab in such a way that its large effects wouldn’t be felt for several years, the implied gamble being that momentum would steal any sustained traction from a repeal movement. Their failure to consider that publicly held companies plan ahead, and out loud, is a significant political blunder. Their hasty call for hearings is another one. Keep it up, Democrats.
It’s hard to see how this can be bad for the repeal-then-replace cause, which means it’s hard to see how this can be bad for the American people.
Republicans, play this wisely. Every advantage must be maximized.
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I have this question, since I am assuming that you are not an investor, CEO, or any other person who stands directly to benefit from the promotion of these corporations: why are you coming so strongly in support of these corporations?
I have no known interest in any of the corporations I name, though I can’t swear I don’t own shares in some fund or another than may in turn contain shares in a corporation I name.
Between economic advice from corporate executives and economic advice from Congressional nitwits, I’ll take the former every time. As I said in the post, I have much higher confidence that they know where a dollar comes from.
Moreover, corporate executives go to prison for pulling the accounting shenanigans that Congress pulls as a matter of course.
Bo, they’re evil. EVIL. They make PROFITS. That’s EVIL. How dare they make profits? Good God, that’s EVIL. Businesses should only be in business for the good of their fellow mankind. They should not be making profits. And if this little bit of a health care reform is going to cost them a buck or two? Well, hell, they should just eat it and not worry about it. Right? You know, it’s like when pharmaceutical companies make a profit. How crass and uncaring. Why do they charge more for a drug than it costs them to manufacture? WHY???? Oh, yeah, so they can take their fucking (thanks, Joe) profit and use it for R&D and make new, better drugs!!!! Now you’ve just gone and gotten me pissed off.
breathe
Seen the headline on Drudge today? O goes on the OFFENSIVE and is telling the Dem troops to be offensive and aggressive for the 2 week break. These nitwits on capitol hill will listen to these execs (well, probably won’t listen at all actually) and will grill them and drill them and make them out to be the EVIL money-hungry execs that they (Dems) believe them to be.
I wish the executives would tell Waxman and company to STICK it.
What a bunch of congressional dumbasses.
Companies are required, by law, to report to the investment community things that MAY affect their earnings. I am sure these are worst case numbers if everything bad happened. Otherwise, when everything bad DOES happen, they can’t be hauled off to jail for not keeping the investors informed.
I hope the corporate bean counters and mathematicians make congress look like a bunch of fools.