CORPORATE AMERICA SQUEALING AT CUTS TO THEIR WELFARE
freeisbest
perfect: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Elaine
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/31/corporate-america-squeals_n_519976.html
Big Business, GOP Complain That Health Reform Slashes Corporate
Welfare
Ryan Grimm
Updated: 03-31-10 02:22 PM
The Republican Party and major corporations have joined forces in the
first major rearguard attack on health care reform, charging that the
cost of complying with "Obamacare" is resulting in hundreds of
millions of dollars in added business expenses.
The crime that reform is guilty of: Slashing corporate welfare.
Under the previous system, major corporations were subsidized by the
government to provide prescription drug coverage to their retired
employees. At the same time, corporations could claim on their tax
returns that it was they -- not the taxpayers -- who paid for the drug
coverage, and could write the expense off as a tax deduction.
Health care reform cuts out that fat. The corporations still get
taxpayer money to help pay for their drug coverage, but they can no
longer continue the fiction that they're using their own money to do
it.
Being forced to operate on a diet of leaner corporate welfare benefits
will make U.S. companies less able to compete, Republicans argue.
Removing the benefit will also force large corporations to compete on
a level -- or at least closer to level -- playing field with small
businesses, who don't get the subsidy. The charge-offs play into the
line that Republicans are pushing -- namely that health care reform is
a "job killer."
So far, Boeing, AT&T, AK Steel, 3M, Caterpillar, Deere, Prudential and
Valero Energy have all said that reform is forcing them to take
significant charge-offs on their balance sheet. The welfare cuts don't
go into effect for several years, but accounting rules require the
reduction to be taken in the year the law is passed.
"A jobs narrative is emerging in the wake of the CAT, John Deere,
Verizon (and many other) announcements as it is becoming clear that
the health care bill is having an immediate and negative effect on the
economy," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican
Congressional Committee. "In short, the bill is a job-killer."
The NRCC is hitting Democrats in their home districts with each
announcement. Four Illinois companies, including Illinois Tool Works,
took significant losses "thanks to Democrats like Bill Foster and
Debbie Halvorson, who supported the government takeover of
healthcare," reads one standard GOP press release.
Democrats are pushing back, demanding that the companies come to
Congress to explain their announcements. Energy and Commerce Committee
Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.),
chair of the oversight subcommittee, wrote to AT&T. "The new law is
designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions
are a matter of concern," they wrote.
[article continues]
GLOBALIST
> The picture that comes with the headline on their front page is
> perfect:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
> Elaine
> --------------------
>
THERE...YOU NAILED IT...CORPORATE WELFARE IS GREAT
Helping the poor of our country is wasteful.