Posts tagged politics

abaldwin360:

(Mother Jones) - John Boehner gave up on fiscal cliff negotiations after he was unable to get House Republicans to agree to any proposal at all, even one that he himself had crafted. The fate of the Republic, he said, was now in the Senate’s hands. So how is Mitch McConnell handling things?

An aide said Wednesday that McConnell had not been in contact with any top Democrats, including Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the majority leader, during the holiday break….Always cautious, McConnell has kept a decidedly low profile during the last few weeks of political theater in the Capitol….Behind the scenes, he [] helped devise Boehner’s Plan B maneuver, which failed to gain enough Republican votes to be brought up in the House. In the aftermath of that defeat, however, McConnell may be unwilling to take on the job of deal-maker. The reasons reflect the pressures that have buffeted his fellow Republicans.

“I cannot emphasize how little a constructive role he will play in this,” Democratic strategist Jim Manley, a former top Reid aide, said of McConnell. “He’s going to be very reluctant to get involved, and to the extent he does get involved, he’s going to move very slowly.”

No Republican dares to be associated with a tax increase, including McConnell. Grover Norquist and his blood pledge still control them all. Will this change after January 1, when the conversation is no longer about raising taxes, but about lowering them? That would make sense, but sense is in short supply these days in the GOP caucus. Here’s the best quote in the entire story:

“The president made a strategic miscalculation and overreached,” said one GOP aide granted anonymity to discuss party strategy. “He could have worked to reach a fair agreement, but instead he picked a fight, poisoned the well, and now we are likely to have a rather unproductive next four years. The decision he made only hurts himself.”

The president overreached! He spent an entire year campaigning on letting tax rates go up modestly on the rich, and then, after winning a convincing victory in November he insisted on … letting tax rates go up modestly on the rich. In GOP-land, that constitutes “poisoning the well,” and it will now become the official excuse for another four years of bitter obstruction and spittle-flecked conspiracy theories. The whole process took less than two months from start to finish. Happy New Year, everyone.

source

Are we surprised tho

cognitivedissonance:

“Papa” John Schnatter, Papa John’s founder and CEO, is back in the headlines once more for his assertion that there’s no way on God’s green Earth he can afford to provide health care for a portion of his employees, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Now, Schnatter hasn’t been hurting for cash. As Brian Warner writes:

When Papa John Schnatter hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney earlier this year, the Republican candidate began his remarks by saying: “Who would’ve imagined pizza could build this? This is really something. Don’t you love this country? What a home this is, what grounds these are, the pool, the golf course…. This is a real tribute to America, to entrepreneurship.” If your house impresses Mitt Romney, the ultimate one percenter, you know it must be pretty awesome. To start, John Schnatter’s 40,000 square foot castle is located in a wealthy country club suburb of Louisville, Kentucky. The property is spread out over a 16 acre estate and as Romney mentioned, features several swimming pools, a private lake and a golf course.

But who knows what’s going to happen now that the health care mandate could supposedly cost him $0.15 a pizza?! Schnatter claims the costs will be $5-8 million per year — though he had no trouble with giving away two million free pizzas this September that cost the company 24 to 32 million dollars. 

Maybe he was counting on Mitt Romney winning.

Anyhow, I’ve decided to take Garfunkel and Oats’ advice and save the rich, one wealthy CEO at a time. Joining me is easy. First, get an envelope and address it [click to zoom]:

Mine reads:
Papa John Schnatter
1904 Stone Gate Rd. <— (address listed for political fundraisers)
Louisville, KY 40223

Or you can send it to Papa John’s Corporate:

2002 Papa John’s Boulevard
Louisville, KY 40299 or

Papa John’s International, Inc.
P.O. Box 99900 
Louisville, KY 40269-9990

My letter [click to zoom]:

As I wrote, I may not be able to afford their overpriced pizza, but I can afford a nickel, a dime, and a stamp. I encourage folks to help save the rich and send Papa John some nickels and dimes to offset this gigantic burden, especially since it’s not financially feasible for him to survive without the extra few million. Apparently.

It’s the least we can do for folks working under such a selfish bastard. 

Cheers,

Meg

abaldwin360:

It has nothing to do with “Not being able to afford Obamacare”

It has everything to do with business owners being whiny little crybabies.

John Schnatter (owner of Papa John’s) has been very vocal about this recently, so lets look at some numbers. 

Mr. Schnatter says that Obamacare is going to cost his company $5-8 million more annually.

Last year Papa John’s captured $1.218 billion in revenue, their total operating expenses were $1.131 billion.

This means that the additional costs associated with Obamacare comes out to an additional .4% to .8% (that is between 4 and 8 TENTHS of a percent of additional operating expenses).

So basically, what we have here is a very wealthy business owner crying his poor little baby eyeballs out over an increase in operating costs that are on the magnitude of TENTHS of percents. 

Let’s put this another way. 

If John Schnatter’s profits were an Olympic sized swimming pool, Obamacare would cause that pool to be at the most a few inches more shallow.

(rebloggable by request)

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