Obama's Payback to Caterpillar

You may recall that in the very early days of the Obama administration the president visited the Caterpillar plant in East Peoria, IL. During that stop the president said the head of Cat had told him that passage of the Stimulus bill would allow Caterpillar to rehire a bunch of the workers they had previously laid off. Caterpillar almost immediately disputed that statement, and in fact since then have laid off even more workers despite the passage of the bill.

Obama doesn't like to be contradicted.

Now Caterpillar finds themselves in the crosshairs once again - this time in the Obamacare bill:

Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House would increase the company's health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone.

In a letter Thursday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, Caterpillar urged lawmakers to vote against the plan "because of the substantial cost burdens it would place on our shareholders, employees and retirees."

Caterpillar, the world's largest construction machinery manufacturer by sales, said it's particularly opposed to provisions in the bill that would expand Medicare taxes and mandate insurance coverage. The legislation would require nearly all companies to provide health insurance for their employees or face large fines.

The Peoria-based company said these provisions would increase its insurance costs by at least 20 percent, or more than $100 million, just in the first year of the health-care overhaul program.

"We can ill-afford cost increases that place us at a disadvantage versus our global competitors," said the letter signed by Gregory Folley, vice president and chief human resources officer of Caterpillar. "We are disappointed that efforts at reform have not addressed the cost concerns we've raised throughout the year."

Once Obama gets done Cat won't be the biggest construction machine manufacturer anymore. That's also part of his plan.