How "Obamacare" Killed Twinkie Appreciation Day

No matter if you’re Republican or Democrat, there is a common thread of thought, there always has to be a villain. Not just a group, but a person, as it’s easier to lay blame on one or many then to look deeper into the issue.

I purposely took the last 2 weeks off from blogging to decompress from the vile, hate and finger pointing of politics, yet I gave in briefly from time to time to Social Media conversation of the topic of the day and sure enough, people will fight for what they see is right, regardless of fact placed before them.

We live in an “I’m right, you’re wrong so suck it” society, where no matter how misinformed one is, they are righteous in their thought and the other is dead-fast wrong.

For instance, many have been fighting over the shutdown of Hostess Corp and how many have chosen the “correct” side and discredited any other thought to fact. If so many people loved Hostess so much, why did it go bankrupt 2 times in 25 years?

The immediate answer of course is the Union(s).

Now, the other person could bring up the fact that in the 25 year time-frame, Hostess was mismanaged and gave large bonuses to their CEO’s while taking concessions from the Union(s).

So which side of opinion is correct? Both sides are correct, but this is America and how dare anyone believe two sides could be slapped with destruction of a company.

As for all those that petitioned the White House and asked for Government intervention to save an Iconic name like Hostess, well, just hang out at the 7-Eleven a little bit longer because Hostess in one form or another will return.

But when people start to bring “Obamacare” into the argument, it just shows the ignorance of people needing more to blame, as “Obamacare” never was in play in the fight over Ding Dongs and Twinkies.

Before I go further, I have never been a fan of Unions nor “Obamacare,” yet I also believe that they are not the complete ill of today’s American business practice either.

Over the past year, business has repeatedly stated they would suspend hiring and/or lay off employees if “Obamacare” still stood on Election Day 2012 and shortly after midnight on Nov 6, sure enough, business by the handful started updating their press releases of upcoming layoffs.

Even though many of the press releases struck the same chord, much of the public only read the first two paragraphs of the proposed number of layoffs, yet hidden in many of the press releases were the words “global layoffs.”

A good example is that of Dana Holding Corp. DHC had already laid off some staff prior to the Nov 6 election, citing “$24 million over the next six years in additional US health care expenses.” Yet towards the bottom of the release it additionally stated that “to cover that six year cost, more cuts will come from their worldwide workforce of 25K.”

It should be noted that DHC board member, Mark Gallogly, was one of Obama’s biggest campaign bundlers and DHC holds a supplier contract with Tesla Motors, who also received a Dept of Energy loan worth $465 million under the Recovery Act.

A list of upcoming layoff press releases that has gotten much circulation on the Interweb comes from FreedomWorks.

If you haven’t heard of FreedomWorks by now here’s a quick review; FreedomWorks is a 2 part “grassroots” tax exempt PAC group run by former GOP House Majority leader Dick Armey. There’s FreedomWorks, Inc., that calls itself a “social welfare” organization and then there’s FreedomWorks Foundation, the charitable offshoot. Even though they are “separate” they share all expenses from staff to office address.

I do find it funny that a tax exempt PAC group like Freedomworks that attacks the government machine is chaired by an ousted former politician that profited during his time in government.

But the list provided by FreedomWorks is misleading as my own employer is listed as pushing layoffs due to “Obamacare” but that’s not the case. My employer’s layoffs were “global,” much coming from our European market in part of selling a section of the company.

But it’s easy to make the story sound larger when just adding any BillyBob’s or TechniMart company that has a press release announcing layoffs.

Yet, there are some companies taking advantage of “Obamacare” to pad profits and get easy Media coverage as well.

Applebee’s and Denny’s have scolded franchisee groups for stating they were cutting employment or adding a “Obamacare” surcharge to the final receipt due to “Obamacare” costs, as their words have hurt business for the main company.

Now it seems Papa John’s Pizza has become a rallying point for many, so much that people have called for a “Papa John’s Appreciation Day” in hopes it equals that of “Chic-Fil-A Day” of months past.

The two do not equate in their purpose.


Chic-Fil-A was about a man’s belief in his Religion while Papa John’s Pizza is about man’s belief in his profit margin.

Papa John’s founder, John Schnatter had stated back in August 2012, he would have to raise the cost of his product some 15cents to cover the cost of “Obamacare” for his employees. And after the November election, a press release by Schnatter stated he will begin placing his employees on part-time status so they don’t qualify for “Obamacare” and still raise his prices to cover “Obamacare.”

So to beat paying “Obamacare,” Schnatter will slash employee hours, yet still use the rise in pricing to add to profits. Then again, I prefer the local pizzeria menu then that of cookie-cutter menus.

What will be interesting will be how the Media reports the next two quarterly earnings reports from these companies as well as many others after the layoffs, adjusted pricing, and so forth to come.

I bet many will see an upward spike in earnings.

That’s it, Slap the Tap and pour me some Cockeyed Cooper while I check out the latest Ebay Hostess Twinkie sale.

Cheers!