AT&T will take $1B non-cash charge for health care
March 26th, 2010 . by TexasFredAT&T will take $1B non-cash charge for health care
NEW YORK (AP) - AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash charge in the first quarter because of the health care overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers.
The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses.
All four are smaller than AT&T, and their combined charges are less than a quarter of the $1 billion that AT&T is planning. The $1 billion is a third of AT&T’s most recent quarterly profit. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the company earned $3 billion on revenue of $30.9 billion.
AT&T said Friday that the charge reflects changes to how Medicare subsidies are taxed. Companies say the health care overhaul will require them to start paying taxes next year on a subsidy they receive for retiree drug coverage.
The telecommunications company also said it is looking into changing the health care benefits it offers because of the new law. Analysts say retirees could lose the prescription drug coverage provided by their former employers as a result of the overhaul.
AT&T rival Verizon Communications Inc. was among 10 companies that sent a letter to congressional leaders in December warning that their costs would increase with the health care changes. Verizon did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Shares in AT&T, which is based in Dallas, climbed 7 cents to $26.22 in afternoon trading Friday.
Full Story Here:
AT&T will take $1B non-cash charge for health care
The article talks about how retirees could lose the prescription drug coverage provided by their former employers as a result of the overhaul. But Obama, Pelosi, Reid and every moonbat in this nation stands and tries to tell us how GOOD Obamacare really is and how GOOD it’s going to be for ALL Americans!
I know people in the financial business, and they are a bit shocked that the market has continued to gain, especially with the passage of the healthcare debacle.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock indexes on Friday finished higher for the week, their fourth straight, making it the longest winning stretch for equities since August of 2009. Equities offered a lackluster performance for the day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average SOURCE
I’ve been told to look for a fairly sharp drop in the market early next week as some of the *big guys* do a bit of profit taking. We’ll see, so far, my sources have never told me wrong.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Commodities, from crude oil to copper and gold — and their related sectors of the stock market — have trailed other assets in the first quarter of 2010. But that’s not necessarily a reason to fret for the market just yet. SOURCE
The key word here is YET! The full ramifications of this ObamaCare bill hasn’t even begun to rear it’s ugly head yet. The Dems that wrote this debacle have NO idea what’s in it, but they forced it off on America, because Obama, Pelosi and Reid said it was GOOD!
SAN FRANCISCO — 3M Co. said Friday that it expects to record a non-cash charge of $85 million to $90 million after tax, or about 12 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2010 as a result of the recently passed health-care bill.
The charge is due to a reduction in the value of the company’s deferred tax asset from a change to the tax treatment of Medicare Part D reimbursements, it said.
In late January, the company had raised its 2010 earnings target to a range of $4.90 a share to $5.10 a share. However, that forecast did not include the impact of the bill. SOURCE
Millions for 3M Corp. Billions for AT&T, and that’s just in the first quarter of 2010, and only 2 major companies announcing so far. And the cost of ObamaCare is a GOOD thing?
Here’s another thing that is killing our market, and I am guessing that it’s completely out of our control. I don’t know that Obama can apologize to North and South Korea and accept enough of the blame on OUR behalf.
