Bryan Strawser

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics

Politics

AT&T takes a $1b Health Care Charge

by ·

The WSJ reports:

AT&T Inc. said it would take a $1 billion charge against earnings tied to the federal health-care overhaul, joining a number of other companies in reporting an impact from the bill signed into law this week.

The charges relate to prescription-drug benefits for retirees. Companies that provide this benefit, as AT&T does, receive a federal subsidy, plus they can deduct the value of this subsidy from their taxes. The health overhaul cancels the deductibility of the subsidy.

But don’t worry – the government will provide for you.

Steyn: Our Own Greek Tragedy

by ·

Last month, Mark Steyn writes:

We hard-hearted, small-government guys are often damned as selfish types who care nothing for the general welfare. But, as the Greek protests make plain, nothing makes an individual more selfish than the socially equitable communitarianism of big government. Once a chap’s enjoying the fruits of government health care, government-paid vacation, government-funded early retirement, and all the rest, he couldn’t give a hoot about the general societal interest. He’s got his, and to hell with everyone else. People’s sense of entitlement endures long after the entitlement has ceased to make sense.

I’ve been told I’m dead inside because I’m for small government.

Happy Anniversary Mr. President

by ·

I’m still somewhat surprised that this actually happened. In Massachusetts of all places.

I only wish that I was still able to vote there – so that I could finally cast a vote for a Republican worth his name in my old home state.

How big of a deal is this? Huge.

What happens next depends on the democrats — Barney Frank was a true class act tonight with this statement – which I think indicates the direction that things are going to go:

I have two reactions to the election in Massachusetts. One, I am disappointed. Two, I feel strongly that the Democratic majority in Congress must respect the process and make no effort to bypass the electoral results. If Martha Coakley had won, I believe we could have worked out a reasonable compromise between the House and Senate health care bills. But since Scott Brown has won and the Republicans now have 41 votes in the Senate, that approach is no longer appropriate. I am hopeful that some Republican Senators will be willing to discuss a revised version of health care reform because I do not think that the country would be well-served by the health care status quo. But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election had not happened. Going forward, I hope there will be a serious effort to change the Senate rule which means that 59 votes are not enough to pass major legislation, but those are the rules by which the health care bill was considered, and it would be wrong to change them in the middle of the process.

For once, Representative Frank and I may actually agree on something.

More: Jules Crittenden.

Obama comes to help the wrong candidate

by ·

The President comes to town to help his senate candidate, Martha Coakley, and finds, perhaps a bit of a cold reception.

The Boston Herald opines:

He may have come to town to fight for his agenda, but there is a growing body of evidence that his agenda – on health care, on energy, even on financial regulatory reform (which somehow the president equates with yet another tax on the banks that actually repaid their government loans) – isn’t what the people of Massachusetts are looking for right now.

Tomorrow, we’ll see if Scott Brown can turn his lead in the polls into reality – and become the first Republican elected to the Senate from the Bay State in a very long time.

Ted Kennedy passes on

by ·

Senator Edward M. Kennedy passed away yesterday. The New York Times talks about his last few months:

But the senator’s condition took a turn Tuesday night and a priest — the Rev. Patrick Tarrant of Our Lady of Victory Church in Centerville, Mass. — was called to his bedside. Mr. Kennedy spent his last hours in prayer, Father Tarrant told a Boston television station, WCVB-TV.

Mr. Kennedy had told friends recently that he was looking forward to a “reunion” with his seven departed siblings, particularly his brothers, whose lives had been cut short.

“When he gets there, he can say ‘I did it, I carried the torch,’ ” Mr. Delahunt said. “ ‘I carried it all the way.’ ”

His politics were not mine, but no matter how you look at it – a great man and one of the last of the that generation of Kennedys has passed on.

Rest in Peace.