So many groups; so many reasons. Timeserving Congress critters, of course, hate losing a perennial threat to keep the electorate focused on something other than their reps' performance. If people are worried about that lump in the neck and the doctor bills on the nightstand, they're not going to have time to watch politicians spout nonsense. In addition, rationing the necessities of life (food, shelter, health care) to punish and reward the wrong and the right has proved surprisingly effective in the land of plenty. That's the big difference between rationing a scarce resource and rationing the bounty.
However, while the PPACA has the appearance of being part of the long tradition of privatization, setting up yet another program that's automatically funded from dedicated revenue has just about privatized Congress out of influence. Because, other than threatening to deep six the whole kit and caboodle, as they perennially do with the pension and workmen's compensation and Medicare services, Congress is pretty much restricted to diddling on the margins -- drafting laws they can't pass, much less get enforced. A $2.8 trillion dollars industry is now out of Congress' reach.
Our bigotted friends, who actually need better health care to keep them from dying off in the prime of life, have been rendered suspicious by an established elite that benefits from keeping them riled. Over time, experience will bring them 'round to recognize that PPACA, overall, is a boon.
The 1% ers will probably continue to hate. "All In," the news/talk program on MSNBC had an interesting discussion of the pickle the 1% ers find themselves in. Of course, it's of their own making. Nevertheless, the sudden realization that acumulating huge amounts of money, by hook or by crook, does not assure the social status and stature they crave has led to them feeling besieged. And then there's the PPACA, about which they have reason to feel agrieved and, probably, permanently. Because of one little number, 3.8%. I'll let one of the posters on DailyKos explain:
Remember that number. Shout that number.
You see, up until Obamacare, the truly wealthy in our society, that passive income crowd that dodged the top tax bracket by getting their compensation in capital gains and such, was EXEMPTED from the Medicare portion of FICA.
This tax (2.9%) went up .9% for incomes over 250k under PPACA. .9%'s not that bad, of course, but for those living on passive income, the hit is much larger.
Until now, this law, they were exempt from that tax.
Now they're not.
Take a guy like Romney - he makes $20,000,000 a year, most if not all of it in the form of passive income. So he was paying at the 15% rate, thanks to the special treatment for such "special" income.
That went up to 20% when parts of hte Bush tax cuts expired in 2012.
And now, to add insult to that injury, Romney's income is subjected to that dastardly Medicare tax (which, unlike the Social Security portion of FICA, doesn't cut off at $106,000, or $133,000, or whatever it is this year).
3.8% of $20,000,000 is $760,000 dollars in taxes. That has to sting that generational wealth plan Romney was hatching.
Imagine the hit the Kochs and the hedge fund guys are taking. The 25 top hedge fund guys in 2009 averaged $1Billion each...3.8% of a billion? Get your calculators out: mine says that means about $38,000,000 in new taxes for these guys.
So if they spend a few million trying to kill it, who could blame them, right?
3.8%.
They hate Obamacare. They hate Obama. It's pretty simple, when you think about it.
Make sure you point that out to the blue collar guy on Facebook who tells you that he's paying for the freeloaders. He is indeed, but he's looking in the wrong direction when he turns his gaze DOWN.
That's why there's a notice on the 1040 form to the effect that reports from financial institutions are going to be reviewed. All that passive income is about to be taxed and, since the Swiss turn over information about their accounts, there's nowhere to hide.
Congress might as well drop the charade over the debt ceiling. After all, their base in the financial community is still better off clipping bonds and collecting income tax-exempt dividends from Uncle Sam, and paying 3.8% into Medicare, than getting a real 9-5 job. But, the base is not going to be happy about it. So, the Kochroaches' revenge is to pay for lying ads, like the one that's playing down in Louisiana courtesy of Americans for Prosperity -- an ironic name that speaks the truth, that Americans exist for the prosperous.
h/t to FiredUpInCa for resurrecting the 3.8% post.