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January 15, 2010

Re: Obama's Big Labor Kickback (Updated)

Topics: Political News and commentaries

The details of the slimy, sleazy, backroom, closed-door, deal between the White House and Big Labor on the excise tax on Cadillac plans are beginning to leak out, and the picture isn't pretty:

The deal cut Thursday would raise the value of policies subject to the tax to $24,000 for families and $8,900 for individuals. Plans with significant numbers of women or older workers would receive an additional break, as would workers in high-cost states and high-risk professions. Dental and vision plans would be exempt starting in 2015. And workers with collective-bargaining agreements and government employers would be exempt until 2018, giving labor leaders time to negotiate new contracts.

As Jennifer Rubin notes, that takes $60B in revenue out of the package, with the difference being made up by taxing the rich on investment income, and all but Obama and the Dems in Congress know the effect of increasing taxes on investors in a recession will do to jobs. But the Democrats could care less:

This is about sticking it to those without sufficient political clout to avoid the havoc to be wreaked by ObamaCare. Health-care "reform" was supposed to be about minimizing the differences between the haves and the have-nots. We have learned, however, that the reality of "reform" is the creation of many more divisions and inequities.

Not good, unfair, wrong, and once again, sleazy, noxious payback for the millions big labor put into the Obama campaign.

James Sherk reminds us, as candidate, Obama campaigned as a fierce opponent of special interests that use their clout and connections to secure special favors from the government. Howver, as President, Obama has made it clear that he only objected to particular special interests getting handouts, and he happily gives liberal special interests loopholes and exemptions from the laws that affect all the rest of us. This all points to Barack Obama being nothing less than a crooked, Sham-Wow man, a sleazy, power-hungry politician, with apparent intentions of purposely wrecking the American economy. There's simply no other way to put it.

Related: Labor's $60 Billion Payoff - A health tax that hits everyone except the Democratic base.

Democrats seem impervious to embarrassment as they buy votes for ObamaCare, but their latest move makes even Nebraska's Ben Nelson look cheap: The 87% of Americans who don't belong to a union will now foot the bill for a $60 billion giveaway to those who do.

Posted by Richard at January 15, 2010 11:24 AM

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• Re: Obama's Big Labor Kickback (Updated) - Jan 15, 2010