And if union bosses can purchase the affection of legislators, why should not GE and ATT&T as well?


From: Anglo-American Health Policy Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of David Wilsford
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 7:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Today's spotlight

To Uwe and others
    Yes, it’s both odious and ludicrous.  But it’s not new.  American politics has always worked that way.  That’s what you get with a very flat, diffuse, exceedingly open system, which is exactly what the so-called founding fathers designed with the institutions of the 1789 constitution.  In other words, the system is working exactly as it is supposed to work.
    Now, if we don’t like it, then we have to change the institutions.  
    Just let us not naively blame the actors within it for acting the way they do.  They are all just being perfectly rational given the longstanding incentive and disincentive structures at play, set up by these wonderful 1789 institutions.
    Yours
    David


On 1/13/10 9:05 PM, "Uwe E. Reinhardt" <[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I cannot see how any principled person could support unionization and
> collective bargaining agreements as a criterion for granting an
> exemption from the proposed excise tax. It is not only pure politics,
> but rather odious pure politics.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Anglo-American Health Policy Network [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Adam Oliver
> Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 11:44 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
> Subject: Today's spotlight
>
> SPOTLIGHT: EXCISING THE EXCISE?
> Union leaders said yesterday that they have reached a tentative
> agreement to exempt collectively bargained health care plans from an
> excise tax on high-cost, employer-provided insurance plans that is
> included in the Senate's health care bill. The deal was struck between
> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka,
> Service Employees International Union President Andy Stern and United
> Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger. Exemptions for collectively
> bargained plans would mollify unions -- which often bargain for generous
> health plans instead of higher wages -- and would allow President Obama
> to keep his pledge not to impose taxes on people whose annual incomes
> are less than $200,000. Obama has expressed a preference for the excise
> tax over an alternative revenue-raising proposal in the House bill to
> levy a surtax on individuals with annual incomes greater than $500,000
> and couples with annual income exceeding $1 million. House Ways and
> Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said he hopes an agreement
> can be reached on the excise tax during a meeting today involving
> congressional leaders and Obama.
>
> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
> communications disclaimer:
> http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/planningAndCorporatePolicy/legalandComp
> lianceTeam/legal/disclaimer.htm
>

--
David Wilsford Ph D
Professor of Political Science and Director of Graduate Studies,
Department of Public and International Affairs, George Mason University (USA),
and
Visiting Senior Fellow, London School of Economics (UK)

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French cell  +33.6.11.16.50.93
U.S. cell  +1.224.522.0111