You SHOULD be mad. You should be mad as hell; unless you're what's now become known widely as a "bankster" or a politician, or a CEO,CFO, COO, etc., with a multi-million dollar golden parachute.
Here's what got me boiling this morning:
Remember Health Care Reform? Better term: Health Insurance Reform? There are provisions kicking in in January, and the ripples and rumbles from the Big Boys are already rolling in. In January 2011, your insurance carrier HAS to allow you to keep - or add - your dependent child, to your family policy, up until the ripe old age of 26. It currently ranges from 19 to 23. If you have a dependent child, your carrier cannot deny or stop coverage, even if that child is seriously ill. A number of preventive screenings - think colonoscopy, mammograms, etc. - are now required to be "free" to the patient. There's also some mumbo jumbo about lifetime limits on payout... it's unclear, but from my reading, the limits start to go up this year, and will be phased out completely by 2014.
And who was first in line to dig in their heels and say, "No way"?
Fucking McDonald's.
Seems they offer their "restaurant" employees (this implies that they serve food, but that's a subject for another day) what are commonly known as "mini- meds"... medical insurance that, for a smaller premium - they'd HAVE to be at McD's notoriously low pay scale - offer medical coverage that limits out at $2,000 to $3,000 a year. I don't know about you, but even $3k at my age (43) is pretty easy to hit... all it takes is a knee injury, a bad flare up of tendonitis, a few quick trips to a sports medicine clinic, and I'm done for the year.
Their response to the new regulations? "We'll have to stop offering health care coverage for our restaurant employees" if they're required to, I don't know, obey the new law.
First of all, they cannot legally do so... McDonald's - at it's roots, before the franchisees kick in - is a 'C' Corporation... US corporate law states that if even ONE officer of the corporation is entitled to benefits, ALL employees must be offered benefits (although they don't have to be the SAME benefits, as many corporations have illustrated). But, they told the Obama Administration this was just too much of a hardship... in fact, complained to the Office of Health Reform, headed by Nancy deParle, and became one of THIRTY - count 'em, THIRTY! waivers to the new requirements.
Wanna see more? Check The Business Insider and/or the NY Times for the full accounting, and yes, major insurers are some of the ones being waived. A paraphrased quote (un-credited): "We can't be covering all of these sick children!" (Emphasis mine).
That was during my first cup of coffee. Resisting the urge to add Bailey's, I spied an article on ZeroHedge.com, verified by HuffingtonPost.com, about corporate share buy-back. See, corporations have now cut expenses - read, JOBS - to the bone. Every 'productivity leap' you've seen since the end of 2007 is just another poor schmuck doing the work of 3 people since the other 2 got laid off. As they burn out, they are replaced, and another poor slob goes on the unemployment line. As a result, these large corporations have HUGE stashes of cash just sitting on the sidelines. What are they doing with it? They're buying their own shares back. When stocks are low, corporations often do this; it's a cheap way to gain control of their own company, and it makes the options look good on paper. With the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq in crack-smoking bliss numbers, it's not really that good a deal. According to ZeroHedge.com: The number of "insider" - read, those who are exercising stock options, or their minions - was at one point last week 2,341 to 1 selling.
HuffingtonPost.com backs this up with an article titled "What a Waste" that's worth a read. This money could have been used to create JOBS, you over-moneyed buttheads!
Finally - I broke and had a beer for this one - Poor Old Goldman Sachs is gasping - gasping, I say! - at the idea of having to pour more money into its capital reserves, with an eye to future losses... like, maybe in their real estate holdings, their CDO's, their MBS's, all based on 2006 values that are still showing up on their Balance Sheets since we decided to suspend Mark to Market accounting rules - oops!. They're saying they can't lend! (They're not, by the way). How will they make any money? (They are, as if you didn't know).
My take - I've now had a long day, and am currently working on a vodka cocktail - is that, in all honesty, and you're hearing this from someone who wept with joy at Obama's Inaugural Speech, our president has now been co-opted, purchased, and wears the same collar that Chris Dodd does: it says, "Owned By Wall Street". It breaks my heart; I had such faith.
Our hero has feet of clay, and I am truly sorry that he has bowed to the pressures that ARE our New Corporatocracy. That doesn't, however, absolve him from accountability, and I'm afraid the one man I thought could help us change the horror that our government has become, has now become part of our government, and a single-term president.
I would weep, but I'm too pissed off.
Brutal Truth
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