Saturday, June 27, 2009

Poitical Spoils

Peruse the Top All-Time Donors 1989-2008 Summary and ask yourself if there is any correlation between campaign donations and this fro Bloomberg:

Unions’ Health Benefits May Avoid Tax Under Proposal

The U.S. Senate proposal to impose taxes for the first time on “gold-plated” health plans may bypass generous employee benefits negotiated by unions.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chief congressional advocate of taxing some employer-provided benefits to help pay for an overhaul of the U.S. health system, says any change should exempt perks secured in existing collective- bargaining agreements, which can be in place for as long as five years.

The exception, which could make the proposal more politically palatable to Democrats from heavily unionized states such as Michigan, is adding controversy to an already contentious debate. It would shield the 12.4 percent of American workers who belong to unions from being taxed while exposing some other middle-income workers to the levy.

As the Top Donors chart shows, the Democratic Party owes the unions a mighty debt. If Sen. Baucus gets his way the union’s payback will come out of our pockets. I don’t mean to imply that Nationalized Health Care is at its base a cheap political ploy, but if it walks like a duck…

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