The Grand Inquisitors

I think we've finally reached the point of total hilarity and Kafkaesque intrusion of government into the private sector.

Democratic Representatives Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak are shocked....SHOCKED!!!!!....that some companies have publicized higher expense recognitions they are making in the wake of the recent passage of a universal health care law.

The Congressmen, angered at being embarrassed by the reaction of some in the business community to the new realities of health care insurance expenses, are demanding the appearance of the presumed-guilty executives before a Congressional Committee.

Of course, this is perhaps extra embarrassing for Stupak, because he pretended to agonize over the pro-life consequences of the bill, before caving in for a meaningless executive order. Now, his faux pro-life cover blown, he also looks stupid for having voted for a bill that will, contrary to his colleagues' and his own affirmations, raise the costs of doing business.

Caterpillar, John Deere, Verizon and a few other companies, in compliance with the Congressionally-mandated Sarbanes-Oxley law, adjusted their expenses for the effects of the new health care law only days after its passage.

Now, they are being called to task for obeying that law.

You see, many in the business community warned over the past year that passage of this ill-advised legislation would result in higher costs to businesses. But Democrats ignored this, as they ignored any suggestions for health care reform which would not result in a totally socialized health insurance and care system.

Now that the law has been passed, by the thinnest of party-line majorities, Democrats in the House are outraged that their claims are being disputed by some executives at large US companies.

It should be quite the show. After all, Sarbanes-Oxley makes it a crime for executives to sign off on corporate filings which they know to be false. So we know this week's disclosures of the higher expenses are real, and true. Otherwise, the affected executives could be charged and convicted of perjury and violations of Sarbanes-Oxley.

Of course, it's ironic that the CEOs being summoned to Washington would, if they used the same approach to accounting that Congress used in the bill, and which the CBO blessed, they'd be in jail. The assumptions and tax/benefit mismatches, intentionally gamed by Democrats and the president to force a misleading, nonexistent 'savings' in the federal budget, wouldn't pass GAAP muster.

The inconvenient truth, to use a popular leftist phrase, is that economic realities are hitting the idealistic, misleading Democratic claims for the health care sector reorganization within a week of the bill becoming law.

Think of how much more bad news will be coming from the private sector as a result of this bad law in the coming months, prior to the November mid-term elections.