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Forums - General - Washington has become a group of thugs :(

TheRealMafoo on 30 March 2010
Orca_Azure said:
How is that thug like? AT&T is being asked to come to Congress and provide "an explanation of the accounting methods used by AT&T since 2003 to estimate the financial impact on your company of the 28% subsidy for retiree drug coverage and its deductibility or nondeductibility, including the
accounting methods used in preparing the cost impact statement."

They want to know how AT&T said they'd lose a billion. It can't be that hard to back up a claim right? I've never really seen a thug say "we made new rules on our turf but we'd gladly like to talk to you to see how this effects you. please bring documents and information relating to how our business is damaging your wallet"

AT&T is going to present itself and its problems to Congress. Thug would be to ignore their cries and not give them an opportunity to prove their claims.

I had a boss once who was very smart, and quick witted. He used to go to this conference, where in one segment, for fun, you would present your work (in this case, it would have been in AI), and then the audience would rip it apart. The point of the conference was to badger the speaker, for fun.

Well one year he was asked to present, and he did not like being badgered, so after he presented, and the first person asked a question, my boss started it with something like "wow, that's the dumbest thing I have ever heard. You have a degree? Let me look at your shoes, I bet there Velcro." and he spent the next 5 minutes almost sending the man into tears.

He then said "Thank you for asking the question. I am glad I could answer it for you, who's next?" No one asked another question.

This, is what the federal government is doing. This administration has done this before. When they wanted banks to take less on the dollar then the united auto workers union for defaulted Chrysler loans, they openly vilified the banks.

It's a very common intimidation tactic. It's the Chicago way.



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TheRealMafoo on 30 March 2010
Kasz216 said:
I really think it depends what this investigation ends up doing. If they do ANYTHING to try and force the companies to not cut anything... then they are acting like thugs.

If they're just going to ramble on and try and convince the CEOs of stuff with their projections... I don't care much.

Although their projections are already off due very specifically to what AT&T is doing... which is why they're really nervous. They're pretty much not going to be budget neutral because the tax base isn't going to be there.

They say they want to see "any documents, including e-mail messages, sent to or prepared or reviewed by senior company officials related to the projected impact of health care reform on AT&T"

and

"For purposes of this request, the term "senior company officials" includes all company officials at the level of Vice President and above for the company or any subsidiary."

So why do they need to see all emails? Why even request them? They also state that if your a VP or above, you are in trouble too. Enjoy your staff meeting Mr. CEO.



Vetteman94 on 30 March 2010

Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.



TheRealMafoo on 30 March 2010
Vetteman94 said:
Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.

That's not the point. The point is AT&T spoke out against this bill, and for that, they are getting punished. That's not right. I don't care what political party your a part of.

Today I can tell Obama to go fuck himself, and I don't need to worry about my accounts being frozen, or getting a knock on the door for it.

AT&T, does not share that luxury it seems, and no one here cares. Scary times.



oldschoolfool on 30 March 2010
Vetteman94 said:
Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.


yeah the govment knows all right? lol



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mirgro on 30 March 2010
TheRealMafoo said:

I don't think you get it (big surprise).

The government is not questioning that AT&T will have to pay a find of 1 billion dollars. No one is. A high school kid can figure that out. What AT&T said is that doing so will cause then to have to restructure how they do things.

Congress didn't like that answer, so they are asking to look at there internal organization to see if that's true. I say "fuck you" government. AT&T does not answer to you. You are not the end all be all of the US. You work for us, not the other way around.

Where does the US Government get off telling a company that's breaking no laws, that they have to prove to them that cutting benefits is the best course of action for AT&T?

It's insane. What have we become? We are only the US by name. The country I was born in is dead, and we killed ourselves. Fuck I am upset.

I don't think you know what the fuck you are talking about, that or you are just too blind and close minded to realize it, neither of which is surprising coming from a person who just loves to whine like you.

Maybe you don't know how normal human discourses work. When someone makes a claim, intelligent people will back it up. If the person making a claim doesn't back it up, intelligent people will ask them to do so, if they still don't then their claim is pointless and they should just shut the fuck up and go back form the hole they crawled out of.

That's how normal human being act. Apparently in your world humans act like children where one screams "yah huh" and the other one screams back "nuh uh." I'm sorry Mafoo but this is the real world, learn to live in it.



Vetteman94 on 30 March 2010
TheRealMafoo said:
Vetteman94 said:
Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.

That's not the point. The point is AT&T spoke out against this bill, and for that, they are getting punished. That's not right. I don't care what political party your a part of.

Today I can tell Obama to go fuck himself, and I don't need to worry about my accounts being frozen, or getting a knock on the door for it.

AT&T, does not share that luxury it seems, and no one here cares. Scary times.

They spoke out against the bill using a BS tactic.   Claiming its going to cost them all this money right now when in reality thats the total value of it over multiple years.   Plus I wouldnt doubt it if it was an extremely conservative amount on their behalf, just to make it that much more ridiculous.



Vetteman94 on 30 March 2010
oldschoolfool said:
Vetteman94 said:
Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.


yeah the govment knows all right? lol

So would you rather the government be bullied by these corporations so they get it their way? 



oldschoolfool on 30 March 2010
Vetteman94 said:
oldschoolfool said:
Vetteman94 said:
Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.


yeah the govment knows all right? lol

So would you rather the government be bullied by these corporations so they get it their way? 


I think it's the other way around.



Vetteman94 on 30 March 2010
oldschoolfool said:
Vetteman94 said:
oldschoolfool said:
Vetteman94 said:
Wow, I cant believe you actually believe that. These companies are taking everything they will have to pay over the next few years and lumping it together to make it look like they are getting screwed over.

Take Caterpillar for example, they claim the amount of the tax on that government subsidiary is going to cost them $100M a quarter this year. But they only get about $500M a year from that subsidiary. So the tax is 80%? I don't think so. They are just taking every year in which they will have to pay this tax and combining it to make it look astronomical. Its a BS accounting tactic and the government isn't falling for it.


yeah the govment knows all right? lol

So would you rather the government be bullied by these corporations so they get it their way? 


I think it's the other way around.

Well they arent being bullied around,  they are being asked to show why this is going to cost them all this money.  But thats not what I asked.   I saked if you would rather have these companies bully around the government?  Way to skirt around the questions though