Wow that was fast! For all the Obama skeptics, this should give some idea of the constraints he has work under. Anyway this might be a battle worth fighting for by every progressive thinking person.. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_11/b4123016507664.htm ----------------------------------------------snip Business is marshaling its forces. The target is the aggressive domestic agenda laid out in President Barack Obama's first budget.
Private health insurers are mobilizing to fend off Obama's plans to cut the fees they receive from Uncle Sam and create a government-subsidized rival that, they fear, would undercut them with lower-cost care for the uninsured. Multinationals are up in arms about the prospect of paying higher taxes on foreign earnings. Real estate agents want to quash efforts to lower the mortgage interest deductions for families earning more than $250,000. Small business owners—many of whom pay personal income tax rates on their companies' profits—fear his plans to raise income, capital-gains, and dividend taxes on those same high-end earners. Many industries accept the idea of paying a price for carbon emissions—but not as quickly as Obama envisions. Private equity players and venture capitalists claim that the higher taxes Obama wants them to cough up will drain away innovation and investment. "There's a lot of activity as people gird their loins for these battles," says longtime Washington lobbyist Patrick E. O'Donnell, who represents defense contractors, potential bank bailout recipients, and insurance companies. Like many others on K Street, his firm, Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, is staffing up. -raghu. -- "I lost a button hole today" - Steven Wright _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
