Friday, March 19, 2010

Health Care Reform: Now it's personal.

All these brutal days leading up to the health care reform vote I've been in opposition to the plan for a host of obvious reasons.

1) It is not the government's responsibility.
2) I don't want the federal government to be in control of half our economy.
3) Health care will be sub par when incentive in destroyed. Look at England. And Canada.
4) $1,000,000,000,000 more in debt, at least. And money we simply do not have.
5) I don't want my tax dollars paying for someone else's healthcare.

Aside from those, and a host of other reasons, which I will not go into detail on right now, I just simply cannot stand Obama....or Pelosi....or Reid. I can't even stand to look at their god awful faces anymore.

That said, today I opened up Drudge and was jolted by this headline...

CATERPILLAR: Health bill would cost company $100M -- in the first year alone!



Caterpillar runs my town. I'd say at least 50% of people in my hometown work for Cat. The company I work for is parters with Cat. If Obama's liberal health care wet dream hamstrings Cat, and us, and forces cutbacks and layoffs, I cannot even begin to describe how irate I will be.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan "because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees."
Caterpillar, the world's largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it's particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.


The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.


"We can ill-afford cost increases that place us at a disadvantage versus our global competitors," said the letter signed by Gregory Folley, vice president and chief human resources officer of Caterpillar. "We are disappointed that efforts at reform have not addressed the cost concerns we've raised throughout the year."

This will not only be a burden for Caterpillar but every other company forced to mandate health insurance to all. This is what happens when you have a man who knows nothing of business running the nation. If this passes, more jobs will be lost and we will be right back to square one, skyrocketing unemployment, which was Obama's top pressing issue during the campaign, was it not?
"Yes I can bankrupt you. And America!"


I live in Peoria, IL, the national headquarters and home of Caterpillar. Have you ever heard the saying "Will it Play in Peoria?" That was a phrase coined in the early 1900's because vaudeville acts would test their shows here to see if it would succeed, or fail, on a national level. The phrase continues to this day. Peoria is a test city for countless markets due to its diverse demographics.

Will Obamacare play in Peoria? No it will not. And that's not good news for the country.

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