what the NAZI Democats did.
Duke Energy CEO Decries ?Father Knows Best? Pitch of Health Law
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By Kim Chipman and Jordan Burke
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Duke Energy Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jim Rogers said the new U.S. health-care law was passed in a ?Father Knows Best? fashion and will end up costing companies far more than they expect.
Rogers, who described himself as a moderate Democrat, said he was ?offended? by the process Democrats in Congress and the White House used to pass the biggest overhaul of health policy in more than four decades.
Lawmakers took the attitude of ?don?t worry your pretty little head about this,? Rogers, 62, said in an interview yesterday. ?It?s only 2,000 pages, but once we pass it and you understand it you will be just fine with it,? he said.
?That is so ?Father Knows Best,?? Rogers said, referring to the 1950s television show that starred Robert Young and Jane Wyatt.
Duke, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based owner of utilities in the U.S. Southeast and Midwest, will take a first- quarter charge because of the health law, Rogers said. He didn?t elaborate except to say the charge will be ?fairly large.? Spokesman Tom Williams later said Duke doesn?t yet know the size or whether the charge will be material.
AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Deere & Co., Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. are among companies that have reported a one-time hit to quarterly earnings after the law backed by President Barack Obama scrapped a tax break on retiree drug benefits.
?Corporations are going to pay billions of dollars this year that no one even talked about in the debate and that?s just the beginning,? said Rogers, who is a director of U.S. health insurer Cigna Corp. ?The total cost of this has been significantly underestimated.?
Roll Back Seen
AT&T, the largest U.S. telephone company, has said it will take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter because of the law while Deere and Boeing each will take a $150 million charge. Verizon, the second-largest telephone company, yesterday said it will incur a $970 million charge.
Rogers, a lawyer by training who says he once worked as a hospital orderly, predicted that escalating expenses will force policy makers to roll back the program.
?We?ve structured something that we are going to look back on in five years and say ?how do we undo this??? Rogers said in the interview at Bloomberg?s Washington office.
The process used to pass the health-care measure is ?unfortunate? because it dims prospects for getting legislation this year that would put a cap on the greenhouse-gas pollution blamed for climate change.
Duke, along with companies such as General Electric Co., has been pushing for a cap on carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants, factories and other sources so it can better know how to proceed with long-term business investments.
Well ?Poisoned?
?Health care has poisoned the well in such a way that it?s going to make it very difficult for a consensus to be built on issues that have historically been overwhelmingly supported in a bipartisan way,? such as environmental policy, he said.
Duke in February said 2010 per-share earnings, excluding one-time items, will be $1.25 to $1.30. For the first quarter, Duke is expected to report per-share earnings of 32 cents, excluding items, according to the average of seven analysts? estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Obama promoted the new health-care law yesterday in Portland, Maine, calling it a ?middle-of-the-road solution? that will bring immediate help to small business owners, seniors and the uninsured.
?It?s not single-payer; some people wanted that,? Obama said to a crowd of about 2,700 gathered in a gym. ?And it?s not what some on the right wanted.?
A Bloomberg National Poll conducted March 19-22 found four in 10 Americans favored the almost $1 trillion, 10-year plan approved without Republican support.
Duke rose 9 cents to $16.41 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has dropped 4.7 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net
Duke Energy CEO Decries ?Father Knows Best? Pitch of Health Law
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By Kim Chipman and Jordan Burke
April 2 (Bloomberg) -- Duke Energy Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jim Rogers said the new U.S. health-care law was passed in a ?Father Knows Best? fashion and will end up costing companies far more than they expect.
Rogers, who described himself as a moderate Democrat, said he was ?offended? by the process Democrats in Congress and the White House used to pass the biggest overhaul of health policy in more than four decades.
Lawmakers took the attitude of ?don?t worry your pretty little head about this,? Rogers, 62, said in an interview yesterday. ?It?s only 2,000 pages, but once we pass it and you understand it you will be just fine with it,? he said.
?That is so ?Father Knows Best,?? Rogers said, referring to the 1950s television show that starred Robert Young and Jane Wyatt.
Duke, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based owner of utilities in the U.S. Southeast and Midwest, will take a first- quarter charge because of the health law, Rogers said. He didn?t elaborate except to say the charge will be ?fairly large.? Spokesman Tom Williams later said Duke doesn?t yet know the size or whether the charge will be material.
AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Deere & Co., Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. are among companies that have reported a one-time hit to quarterly earnings after the law backed by President Barack Obama scrapped a tax break on retiree drug benefits.
?Corporations are going to pay billions of dollars this year that no one even talked about in the debate and that?s just the beginning,? said Rogers, who is a director of U.S. health insurer Cigna Corp. ?The total cost of this has been significantly underestimated.?
Roll Back Seen
AT&T, the largest U.S. telephone company, has said it will take a $1 billion charge in the first quarter because of the law while Deere and Boeing each will take a $150 million charge. Verizon, the second-largest telephone company, yesterday said it will incur a $970 million charge.
Rogers, a lawyer by training who says he once worked as a hospital orderly, predicted that escalating expenses will force policy makers to roll back the program.
?We?ve structured something that we are going to look back on in five years and say ?how do we undo this??? Rogers said in the interview at Bloomberg?s Washington office.
The process used to pass the health-care measure is ?unfortunate? because it dims prospects for getting legislation this year that would put a cap on the greenhouse-gas pollution blamed for climate change.
Duke, along with companies such as General Electric Co., has been pushing for a cap on carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants, factories and other sources so it can better know how to proceed with long-term business investments.
Well ?Poisoned?
?Health care has poisoned the well in such a way that it?s going to make it very difficult for a consensus to be built on issues that have historically been overwhelmingly supported in a bipartisan way,? such as environmental policy, he said.
Duke in February said 2010 per-share earnings, excluding one-time items, will be $1.25 to $1.30. For the first quarter, Duke is expected to report per-share earnings of 32 cents, excluding items, according to the average of seven analysts? estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Obama promoted the new health-care law yesterday in Portland, Maine, calling it a ?middle-of-the-road solution? that will bring immediate help to small business owners, seniors and the uninsured.
?It?s not single-payer; some people wanted that,? Obama said to a crowd of about 2,700 gathered in a gym. ?And it?s not what some on the right wanted.?
A Bloomberg National Poll conducted March 19-22 found four in 10 Americans favored the almost $1 trillion, 10-year plan approved without Republican support.
Duke rose 9 cents to $16.41 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has dropped 4.7 percent this year.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Washington at kchipman@bloomberg.net
