Save the Rich: "Papa" John Schnatter Edition
“Papa” John Schnatter, Papa John’s founder and CEO, is back in the headlines once more for his assertion that there’s no way on God’s green Earth he can afford to provide health care for a portion of his employees, as mandated by the Affordable Care Act. Now, Schnatter hasn’t been hurting for cash. As Brian Warner writes:
When Papa John Schnatter hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney earlier this year, the Republican candidate began his remarks by saying: “Who would’ve imagined pizza could build this? This is really something. Don’t you love this country? What a home this is, what grounds these are, the pool, the golf course…. This is a real tribute to America, to entrepreneurship.” If your house impresses Mitt Romney, the ultimate one percenter, you know it must be pretty awesome. To start, John Schnatter’s 40,000 square foot castle is located in a wealthy country club suburb of Louisville, Kentucky. The property is spread out over a 16 acre estate and as Romney mentioned, features several swimming pools, a private lake and a golf course.
But who knows what’s going to happen now that the health care mandate could supposedly cost him $0.15 a pizza?! Schnatter claims the costs will be $5-8 million per year — though he had no trouble with giving away two million free pizzas this September that cost the company 24 to 32 million dollars.
Maybe he was counting on Mitt Romney winning.
Anyhow, I’ve decided to take Garfunkel and Oats’ advice and save the rich, one wealthy CEO at a time. Joining me is easy. First, get an envelope and address it [click to zoom]:
Mine reads:
Papa John Schnatter
1904 Stone Gate Rd. <— (address listed for political fundraisers)
Louisville, KY 40223
Or you can send it to Papa John’s Corporate:
2002 Papa John’s Boulevard
Louisville, KY 40299 or
Papa John’s International, Inc.
P.O. Box 99900
Louisville, KY 40269-9990
My letter [click to zoom]:
As I wrote, I may not be able to afford their overpriced pizza, but I can afford a nickel, a dime, and a stamp. I encourage folks to help save the rich and send Papa John some nickels and dimes to offset this gigantic burden, especially since it’s not financially feasible for him to survive without the extra few million. Apparently.
It’s the least we can do for folks working under such a selfish bastard.
Cheers,
Meg
“ I think before his second term is over, we’re going to see a miracle before our eyes, I believe God is going to answer our prayers and we’ll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare”
—Michele Bachmann decides God will repeal Obamacare.“Obamacare got some very good news on Thursday. In 2009, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that a medium-level “silver” plan — which covers 70 percent of a beneficiary’s expected health costs — on the California health exchange would cost $5,200 annually. More recently, a report from the consulting firm Milliman predicted it would carry a $450 monthly premium. Yesterday, we got the real numbers. And they’re lower than anyone thought. ...The California exchange will have 13 insurance options, and the heavy competition appears to be driving down prices. The most affordable silver-level plan is charging $276-a-month. The second-most affordable plan is charging $294. And all this is before subsidies. Someone making twice the poverty line, say, will only pay $104-a-month. Sparer plans are even cheaper. A young person buying the cheapest “bronze”-level plan will pay $172 — and that, again, is before any subsidies. California is a particularly important test for Obamacare. It’s not just the largest state in the nation. It’s also one of the states most committed to implementing Obamacare effectively. Under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — remember how that really happened? — California was the first state to begin building its insurance exchanges. The state’s outreach efforts are unparalleled. Its insurance regulators are working hard to bring in good plans and make sure they’re playing fair. If California can’t make the law work, perhaps no one can. But if California can make the law work, it shows that others can, too. And perhaps others will. We’re beginning to see competition drive down proposed rates in some exchanges around the country. Remember Maryland, where CareFirst grabbed headlines with a shocking 25 percent proposed increase in rates? More plans have streamed in with lower bids. Kaiser Permanente, for instance, is only increasing its rates next year by 4.3 percent — a modest increase that will make CareFirst’s proposal almost impossible to sustain. My guess is when the exchange actually opens in October, CareFirst will have dropped its price substantially. If they don’t, then Kaiser and others will grab all the market share.”
—The Washington Post, “Some Very Good News for Obamacare.”
Well, well, well.
“This may level the playing field for us, If they have to pay for benefits, and that pushes their prices up closer to ours, it will justify what we've been paying for and what we've been fighting to do the past few years....I’d tell Papa John's' CEO, ‘Welcome to the club, We've battled the whole way giving health insurance to employees ever since we could afford to do it 9 years ago, as a two-year-old business.” ”
—Papa John’s Obamacare Price Hike Cheered By Ian’s Pizza In Wisconsin
Like many of the 60 percent of small businesses that pay employees health benefits, Ian’s Pizza has struggled to compete with national chains that enter local markets and undercut existing prices. But Obamacare may give local businesses some breathing room as national chains lose the advantage they once wielded through not providing health insurance
Everyone in Obamacare is going to be micro-chipped and tracked as of 2013.
Jesus fuck, how can people agree with this?
Doesn’t make me feel so bad about myself when I know that there are people that are stupid enough to allow their government to micro-chip them at free will.
Shit, I’m like Einstein compared to these morons.
“...evidence from San Francisco suggests we should be very suspicious of firms pleading poverty as they charge surcharges. The city adopted pioneering universal health care legislation that, like Obamacare, imposed higher costs on some classes of employers. Many of them responded with special health care surcharges. Upon investigation, much of this surcharge money just ended up in the pockets of business owners, as with any other price increase.”
—Matt Yglesias – Papa John’s raising prices for Obamacare: Denny’s, Applebee’s, and the pizza chain are angry about health care costs. - Slate Magazine
25% of young Americans say they don't need insurance; 35% say it's not worth the cost.
washingtonexaminer.com…buuuuut they’ll still have to buy it or face a fine come January.
Personally, I fall into both of those categories. I don’t have health insurance, and right now, I don’t want it. In the future I probably will, but currently insurance is not for me.
Now, I know there’s a risk involved in not being insured — and I might opt for a basic catastrophic policy soon to cover any big, expensive surprises — but hey, there’s a risk involved in life. The best insurance policy in the world won’t remove all the risk from your health and financial situations…but it will cost you a heck of a lot of money each month.
In the meantime, I eat well, exercise, and save money instead of throwing thousands of dollars a year away on medical expenses I simply don’t have.
And I should be allowed to make that choice for myself —
As a U.S. citizen.
As an adult.
And as a human.
This is a situation where everyone, left and right, should be able to agree that the much-abused “My body, my choice” slogan clearly applies. But for 25% of Americans 18 to 30, no such luck.
