Please calm down about AT&T Charge

pointman

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Saturday March 27, 2010 · 10:26 AM PDT

2010/03/27 · 10:26

There is currently a rec diary discussing the fact that AT&T is taking a $1Billion charge to account for the change of a subsidy related to the recently passed HIR bill. I just want everyone to calm down about this charge that they are taking.

First, It is a ONE TIME CHARGE. Basically, AT&T is taking the lifetime hit associtated with this one change all at once due to accounting rules regarding projected future health care costs.

You'll also notice that AT&T (and media reporting this) don't point out the one time nature of the charge in question. Below, the fold, I'll discuss briefly what is going on.

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