In a blog post titled “In Voting Rights Arguments, Chief Justice Misconstrued Census Data” on NPR’s website, veteran NPR Supreme Court correspondent Nina Totenberg deconstructs a sophism offered by John Roberts at the oral argument on Wednesday on the continued constitutionality of a key section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which Congress has extended several times, the last time, overwhelmingly, in 2006.
Source: Angry Bear
About two weeks ago, Dan emailed me with a link to a New York Times article titled “A Flood of Suits Fights Coverage of Birth Control,” by Times reporter Ethan Bronner, published that day. The article began:
In a flood of lawsuits, Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are challenging a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — a high-stakes clash between religious freedom and health care access that appears headed to the Supreme Court.
In recent months, federal courts have seen dozens of lawsuits brought not only by religious institutions like Catholic dioceses but also by private employers ranging from a pizza mogul to produce transporters who say the government is forcing them to violate core tenets of their faith. Some have been turned away by judges convinced that access to contraception is a vital health need and a compelling state interest. Others have been told that their beliefs appear to outweigh any state interest and that they may hold off complying with the law until their cases have been judged. New suits are filed nearly weekly.
Dan asked me if I could put the article’s contents into perspective.
Source: Angry Bear
What a spot-on article Run 75441’s piece, “Healthcare Reform; Socialism or Fascism?” is. And what an informative Comments thread.
Source: Angry Bear
What a spot-on article Run 75441’s piece, “Healthcare Reform; Socialism or Fascism?” is. And what an informative Comments thread.
Source: Angry Bear
by Bill aka run75441
Will pizza and food prices really have to increase to cover healthcare costs for the mostly young employees of the Olive Garden’s, Denny’s, and Papa John’s restaurants?
A 10 to 14 cents increase per pizza is being proposed by Papa Johns’ to pay for the PPACA. At the same time, Papa John’s is advertising a 2 million-pizza giveaway with the help of Peyton Manning “Two Million Free Pizzas” (must be a freebie?). Not sure myself how I might decide to account for the cost; but, here is a try; free pizza for 2 million NFL fans to increase sales, . . . cut employee hours to avoid the PPACA and keep the price, . . . raise prices 10 to 14 cents per pizza to have healthcare insurance for the restaurant staff, . . . or maybe a kind of half cheese/half sausage combo. . . healthcare and free pizzas with Peyton Manning promoting the social responsibility of Papa John’s?
Maggie Mahar at The Health Beat Blog “Can US Businesses Afford Obamacare?” points to an interesting article by John Padua of Managed Care Matters discussing who bears the healthcare reform cost if restaurant owners opt out while Forbes Caleb Melby runs the numbers and questions the increased costs suggested by Papa’s John’s CEO “Papa John’s Obamacare Math” .
The issue(s): The Affordable Care Act dictates that full-time employees (30 hours or more per week) at companies with more than 50 workers need to be provided health insurance. CEO John Schnatter has further claimed that some employers will cut employee hours to avoid providing them with healthcare.
The Cost: John Schnatter estimates that Obamacare will end up costing his company $5-8 million annually.
The Price Increase: 10 to 14 cents per pizza
Checking John Schnatter’s Math: Last year, Papa John’s International captured $1.218 billion in revenue. Total operating expenses were $1.131 billion. If Schnatter’s math is accurate (Obamacare will cost his company $5-8 million more annually), then new regulation translates into a .4% to .7% expense increase. It is difficult to set that ratio against the proposed pie increase and across all sizes given size and topping differentials, but many of their large specialty pizzas run for $16. Remarkably, a 10-14 cent increase on a $16 pizza falls in a comparable range of .6% to .9%; but, the cost transference becomes less equitable if you are looking at medium pizzas which run closer to $12, meaning a .8% to 1.15% price increase.
Lets say that Papa John’s sells exactly half medium/half large specialty pizzas. Averaging the ranges for both sizes, then averaging that product yields a .86% price increase — well outside the range of what Schnatter says Obamacare will cost him.
So how much would prices go up, under these 50/50 conditions, if they were to fairly reflect the increased cost of doing business onset by Obamacare? Roughly 3.4 to 4.6 cents a pie.
3.4 to 4.6 cents does not seem like such a huge increase to bear by either customer or the business and if the advertising is done right; it might prove more positive than giving away 2 million freebie pizzas during the NFL season . . . a little like Schooner Tuna in the movie “Mr. Mom,‘we are in this together for the long haul.’” What customer would not buy into this?
The Issue(s): From the annals of I made this; “Everyone is looking for a way ‘not‘ to provide insurance for their employees. It is essentially a huge tax on all us business people,” declares Denny’s RREMC Franchise Owner CEO John Metz on Fox News. To offset costs further, John adds; “he also will slash most of the staff’s time to fewer than 30 hours per week” to start January 2014.
Talk about giving a long notice for plant closures to employees. What happens if franchise owner sidesteps the insurance provision of the PPACA and cuts hours to fewer than 30? John Padua of Managed Care Matters says the cost falls back on the US citizenry, employees, and customers of these restaurants.
“If companies do not provide insurance for low-paid workers, we taxpayers have to. That is the way Obamacare works; folks with incomes below 400% of the FPL can get subsidized coverage. If restaurants cut workers’ hours so as not to insure employees, all of us taxpayers get to pay for their health insurance. These companies are avoiding their responsibility and increasing our tax burden. “The Cost of Obamacare -14 cents per pizza”
The Cost: Maggie Mahar raises the question in her “Can They Afford It???” post. Metz employs 1,200 associates at his Denny’s RREMC franchise. Taking the extreme case of all 1200 employees going into the state exchange and being subsidized up to 400% of FPL; by slashing everyone’s hours to 28, Metz avoids the $2,000 penalty (~$2.34 million in total) for those going into the state exchange.
The Price Increase: 5% surcharge to all meals in 40 Denny’s in Georgia, Florida and Virginia. (note: I wonder how that will appear on the bill?)
Checking The Math: The CBO (which forever appears to be anti-healthcare reform) found in a recent study, 2014 comprehensive healthcare insurance could be had at $3,400 for an employee up to 30 years of age and single. Understanding we are not talking about writing off Metz’s employee expenses from his corporate income tax yet and knowing the PPACA requires an employer to pay 65% of the employee’s healthcare insurance, the $3,400 per person (down from a projected $6,700 without the PPACA) now becomes $2,210 per person.
Denny’s franchise owner Metz is angry with Obama, the PPACA, and his employees. Granted, the example is as much an extreme as Metz’s knee jerk reactions and posturing; but, it points to the overall fallacy in the too-much-healthcare- cost is a drag on my business argument. Both of these entrepreneurs did take grief for their stances. Denny’s CEO John Miller did call john Metz to discuss his stance and John Schnatter has been called out in various blogs and is the subject of multiple boycotts.
Much of this sounds like sour grapes starting with SCOTUS affirming the PPACA and is carryover from the re-election of Barack Obama to the Presidency. Some have protested the validity of the PPACA claiming it was immoral to force business owners to pay for employee healthcare insurance. In an email exchange, John Paduca answers:
“In response to your query as to when it became an employers’ responsibility to provide health insurance, that would have occurred when PPACA was passed, signed into law, and upheld by the Supreme Court. Laws run this country, not morals. If ‘morals’ did, we never would have invaded Iraq or water-boarded prisoners or interned Japanese Americans or overturned legitimate governments in Africa and Central America or supported the Shah of Iran. ‘Morals’ are personal; laws are societal.”
Maybe it is just Republicans having to cancel their airline tickets to Boston for the celebration on November 7th which has placed both Johns in a bad mood. Or could it be pent up anger with the very people who elected Barack to The White House for a second term? You know, those 47 percenters who might make up the bulk of the restaurant workers.
http://order.papajohns.com/index.html?dclid=%25n-2543611-4121096-72104708-246871266-0&esvt=332865-GOUSB336926554&esvq=pizza%20papa%20johns&esvadt=999999-0-3864908-1&esvcrea=16161164905&esvplace&esvaid=30536&gclid=CPa5osPB9bMCFUKd4AodEVwAFA
http://www.joepaduda.com/2012/11/the-cost-obamacare-14-cents-per-pizza/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2012/11/12/breaking-down-centi-millionaire-papa-john-schnatters-obamacare-math/
Source: Angry Bear
by Kenneth Thomas
Source: Angry Bear
The DNC has
apologized for using Ann Romney’s London Olympics-bound horse in an attack
targetting her husband.
The
Source: Angry Bear
The second biggest surprise of
the day, after the survival of the Affordable Care Act, is that we’ve never
really gotten over our collective crush on John Roberts. How else to explain
today’s outpouring of praise, not merely for the decision but for the man
himself, for his statesmanship and judicial modesty? All these years, it now
appears, we’ve held it in our hearts; we’ve written it in our diaries,
remembering every one of those sweet nothings he once whispered about “common
ground” and “humility.” No, we never really gave up on Roberts. Not during that
long judicial bender he took with the boys—Nino, Clarence, Tony, and Sam; not
during the
Source: Angry Bear
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