Guess who else has “gold-plated” benefits. All those union workers that Democrats count on for votes. But they don’t have to worry, Senator Baucus is proposing that health insurance in collective bargaining agreements won’t be taxed.  That’s right, the tax code is based upon who you work for.

The Bloomberg article includes many good reasons for not applying the tax to union agreements. But that’s a straw man to the real point – each and every one of those arguments applies to each and every other working stiff and is a reason not to tax them either, they aren’t reasons to tax non-union people.

I’m not sure what to be more pissed at:

• The Democrats, at least the ones proposing the exemption think they can get away with this blatent attempt to financially reward votes.
• That our politicians now think it’s OK to base taxes on who you work for. They don’t want to tax the companies, this money will be deducted from your paycheck.
• That our politicians think health care reform means taxing the people with good health insurance. Let’s face it, they aren’t taxing the “gold-plated” insurance of a few.
• That “reform” simply means spreading insurance to those who don’t have it and not lowering costs and improving service for us all. Because the health-care industry makes money off us being sick and companies are resisting price increases, reform is simply an attempt to bring in new customers and get others to pay.

I’d like to hope I’m wrong about one of those points, but with the broken system have today I rather doubt I am.

It’s I site where I can document the reasons to elect Chris Dodd, at least as I see them. They may not be good reasons to elect a Senator, but they are the reasons. So feel free to head on over and give it a look.

The first was from the Planet Money blog and pointed me to Joe Nocera’s NY Times column. He talks about the AIG mess and how the company has to be kept alive:

And yet — and this is the part that should make your blood boil — the company is being kept alive precisely because it behaved so badly.

Then in today’s New York Times I read that the the former execs of Countrywide, a failed company synoyms with the mortgage crisis, have formed a company to profit on the toxic assets they created. They’ve been buying up mortgages from the government for pennies on the dollar.

I guess because of the insider knowledge of the crisis they’re doing well.  According to a report from the head of loan servicing when reporting to CountryWide’s former president:

“In fact, it’s off-the-charts good,” he told Mr. Kurland, who was leaning back comfortably in his white leather boardroom chair, even as the financial markets in New York were plunging.

Unfortunately they haven’t been convicted of a crime so there’s no way to keep them from starting a business. But with all the rules being put in place over executive pay, can’t we limit the selling of loans to the people who contributed to the crisis?

It’s also been said that the executives suffer because the compensation is in stock which is down. Well, in this case the stock may have been diluted, but it was saved and they aren’t the reason it’s not at zero.

James Lockhart, the chief regulator for the companies said:

They … have some skills in this area…

via Planet Money