The departure of Rush Limbaugh for Costa Rica is now imminent with the passage of the second health care legislation — the so-called fixes of the original bill. Limbaugh threatened earlier that if Congress dared to pass the legislation he would leave for Costa Rica, here. It was an offer that Congress could simply not pass up.
In his prior radio interview, Limbaugh stated to a listener: “I don’t know. I’ll just tell you this, if this passes and it’s five years from now and all that stuff gets implemented — I am leaving the country. I’ll go to Costa Rica.”
Here are the flights this weekend from Florida near his beach home from Expedia:
12:00 pm Depart Miami (MIA)
Arrive San Jose (SJO) 4:55 pm Sat 27-Mar
Duration: 6hr 55mn
American Airlines American Airlines 2189
10:35 am Depart Miami (MIA)
Arrive San Jose (SJO) 4:55 pm Sat 27-Mar
Duration: 8hr 20mn
American Airlines American Airlines 993
LACSA LACSA 692
Connect in Panama City (Tocumen Intl.)
3:10 pm Depart Miami (MIA)
Arrive San Jose (SJO) 4:00 pm Sat 27-Mar
Duration: 2hr 50mn
American Airlines American Airlines 1051
Nonstop flight
As a further assistance to speed his departure, here is all the Spanish he will need on his new Spanish radio program in San Jose, Costa Rica:
Tea bag – bolsita para hacer té
Socialism – socialismo
Conservative – conservador
Free Market – mercado libre
OxyContin – OxyContin
AT&T
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29074160/Stephenson-letter
Letter to Cat
http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20100326/Owens.Letter.pdf
Byron,
Sounds good to me! You’ll have to bring the nutria etoufee, though. (No, I’ve never had nutria before.)
just F it all. lets just get down and party. a little dope some wine, a few lines and who gives a rats rear end what the economy does.
Bdaman what are you smoking tonight? Ribs, brisket or buds?
Bdaman said:
“Certainly a big part of why the big 3 automakers have trouble competing with the Japanese is because of retiree health costs.
And who pushed that? Unions”
And who agreed to it? Management.
If one wants to know why GM failed and Ford didn’t, all one really needs to do is compare the development cycle of the new Mustang versus the new Camaro. You could buy a retro style Mustang or Plymouth Challenger when the Camaro was only available as a trade show mock up.
Ford was sued in the early 1900 because of a shareholder derivative suit. In 1911 they had 128 million dollars in retained earnings. Calculate that in terms of todays dollars.
GM’s problem is not the union nor retiree benefits. It is bad investments and mixed business results. One year before they pleaded their case for money they had spent 100 billion on plants in Russian.
Ford on the other hand has had very sound investment and actually made money hand over fist. FYI the actual raw material cost on a Cadillac CTS-V is about 5,500 including union wages. The money is going to pay for a lot of other bad investments.
How much does GM spend on viagra for retirees, look it up.
Certainly a big part of why the big 3 automakers have trouble competing with the Japanese is because of retiree health costs.
And who pushed that? Unions
Look at the Toyota hourly wage in the U.S. vs the Big three.
P.S. Fords doin just fine with no bailouts.
Woosty continues to be feline said:
“I think we can’t compete with other countries BECAUSE we don’t have decent healthcare.”
Certainly a big part of why the big 3 automakers have trouble competing with the Japanese is because of retiree health costs. Our country would be so much better off right now if the health care bill we just passed simply lowered the age of medicare coverage to birth and let the insurance industry fight it out over the supplemental market (either in Thunderdome or insurance company deathmatch).
‘CAT has an obligation to it’s shareholders (many of us probably have money in CAT through 401k’s or other investments) and if it cannot compete by producing backhoes here in the US it will move production offshore. Thousands of jobs will be lost and the tax base will be reduced. Now multiply this by the many thousands of companies in the US and you can see the problem.’
dontcha think single payer would have been helpful here. to take the pressure off the poor struggling corporations?
‘I don’t know if any of you are paying attention but the really rich have been moving their money and assets quietly offshore since 2008 when it became apparent to all that Obama was going to win.’
long before 2008 I think….and anytime they can make a bigger buck somewhere else. They must be really freaked since the economy is depressed in so many places in the world, not just here. In fact, I think we can’t compete with other countries BECAUSE we don’t have decent healthcare.
Slats,
Rep.Waxman will eat the corporate CEO’s up and spit them out. The timing of these corporate announcements appears to be coordinated and I wouldn’t be surprised if our old friends, the Chamber of Commerce is behind it.
The bottom line is that someone is going to have to pay for this. It wont be corporations because they pass the cost onto the consumers. Every single regulation or tax that is paid by a corporation is picked up by the consumer of that good or service.
This bill is going to cost money and it is you and I that are going to pay in the end.
If a small company in MA is considering moving offshore to be able to remain competitive, I would take it as a canary in the mine shaft warning. You all can talk about accounting gimmicks all you want, the bottom line is these companies are worried about what the added expense is going to be. They are afraid of the unknown and are trying to figure out what the additional cost per unit is going to be and whether or not they can remain competitive.
If CAT produces a backhoe for 35,000 dollars and Komatsu produces one for $35,000 then no problem and the sale will be based on service, reliability, etc. But if CAT now has to produce one for $40,000 because they have to pick up additional costs due to the new health care bill guess who is going to be selling more backhoes? Hint the company name starts with K.
CAT has an obligation to it’s shareholders (many of us probably have money in CAT through 401k’s or other investments) and if it cannot compete by producing backhoes here in the US it will move production offshore. Thousands of jobs will be lost and the tax base will be reduced. Now multiply this by the many thousands of companies in the US and you can see the problem.
This is not rocket science, it is basic economics. I don’t know if any of you are paying attention but the really rich have been moving their money and assets quietly offshore since 2008 when it became apparent to all that Obama was going to win. I extrapolate from the many large properties that were sold here in Virginia and are being sold. If I was rich everything I owned would now be in a Swiss bank vault or in property in the Caymans or Bermuda or Costa Rica. The Joe the Plumber exchange was the tell.
Hopefully the cost of health care will be able to be absorbed by our economy and our companies can remain competitive. But if it cant there will be a good many services provided by government and a good many government jobs that are going to be lost right along with the private sector jobs. Capitalism is the goose that lays the golden egg for everyone and Obama is trying to eviscerate her.
You cannot have your cake and eat it to. The level of economic knowledge on the left is appalling. Most adhere to Marx and Keynes, two of the stupidest philosophers/economists in history.
And no stimulus in the 30’s did not work and no WWII did not get us out of the depression. Why do you think everything was rationed? It wasn’t to help win the war, production was not yet up to capacity. What is easier to do? Mine iron ore or gather scrap metal?
‘Ambulance service gets £38 for every patient they don’t take to hospital’
U.S. insurance companies have been operating in this fashion for years. Why do you think it is so difficult to get a referral to a specialist? and Home care agencies receive pt. reimbursements up front…and what they don’t spend, they get to keep. This is OUR manner of business and the UK is trying it on for size. Don’t you like it?
Healthcare Discussion with Bill Kristol with John Stewart
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa69puS7J0Q&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Bdaman,
I just assume that everything turdblossom says is a lie – it’s much easier than wading through the crap Mr. Rove spews.
It strikes me as an accounting trick
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/03/exclusive-plouffe-and-rove-battle-it-out-over-health-care-reform.html
These were/are the same companies that stood by the health care legislation last year. I guess it was before they got to actually read the bill. SUCKERS
rafflaw,
That was my thought as well. They might be bringing a knife to a gunfight in Representative Waxman’s hearing…
Slats,
I think all of these companies that are making these statements are merely using the hype of the Republican Party to create an excuse to dump benefits in order to improve the stock price and help the CEO’s and top management personnel’s bonuses.
BIL,
that was a great Sean Connery movie!