by Tina Grazier
Union thugs showing up to disrupt town hall meetings (and push people around) have a lot to lose if we stop Health Care legislation from passing. They are motivated, they are organized, and they are as determined to deter us now as they were to elect President Obama. Union bosses have put out the word; their own healthcare bailout is the coveted prize. Unions stand to gain about ten billion (for starters) when they “quit” their own failing plans and sign up for government “reinsurance.” A stroke of the pen and they are off the hook, their debt shifted to the overly burdened back of the tax payers.
We bailed out car companies that unions helped to destroy and now those same unions are dead set on rolling the taxpayers again. Entwined into HR 3200 is section 164, the “Reinsurance Program for Retirees.” Auto workers should be protesting and harassing their union bosses and themselves for demanding the impossible from companies that provided their jobs. I think they should also live with the consequences of their obnoxious greed. Details about section 164 are spelled out in the following article; the excerpt provides a link to HR 3200:
Union bosses who have mismanaged benefits for their own members are poised to receive a $10 billion bailout from U.S. taxpayers in the form of a “reinsurance program” that has been folded into the healthcare bill, according to the Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI). *** This provision should be viewed as part of a larger payback effort the Obama White House and top congressional figures have set up in exchange for the support they have received from organized labor, Katie Packer, executive director of WFI said. *** Section 164 of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 provides that the government pay 80 cents on the dollar to corporate and union insurance plans for claims between $15,000 and $90,000 for retirees age 55 to 64. Union health insurance funds only have about 30 cents available to cover each dollar of anticipated claims, according to the Lewin Group and other research outfits.
Corporations have become a symbol of greed for many Americans. The reasons are many but two are particularly egregious. The most obvious reason is the unethical practices and greed of a few corporate heads. The destruction caused by these corporate heads has been recognized by the public and many of them have been or will be punished. The other reason has not been widely recognized. It is the unethical and greedy motivations and practices of progressive Democrats and unions to use, abuse and demonize corporations as a political strategy to transfer wealth. The destructive nature of these policies can be seen in the weakness of the corporations and the effect that weakness has on the economy.
Wealth transfer is a bomb, an economic explosive device, that blows up and does great harm to countless others down the road. This wealth transfer bailout is just one example. Lack of concern for long term consequences, lack of concern for lost jobs, lack of concern for pensioners ultimately to have their health care promises ripped away, lack of concern for financial burdens shifted to future generations are all glaring examples of the failure of wealth transfer policies. None of these horrendous results were considered when unions and Democrats formulated their bargaining strategies and legislation. Greed, either for greater power or simply to take more of other people’s money, is at the heart of the problems damaging all Americans today.
It’s long past time for progressives to come clean and acknowledge their own underhandedness and greed and it’s time for Americans to reject the policies associated with wealth transfer. Reject this health care bill and demand real reform of the government policies and laws that are the root causes of problems in the health care system.