It was late 2008. President Bush was on television, explaining how we just had to bail out all these banks by buying up their mortgaged backed securities because if we didn’t, our entire financial system could collapse. We just had to bail them out, or else. That was the first time we heard arguments like “to big to fail” and the point when phrases like “liquidity in the market” entered the mainstream of American though. Businesses clamored for help. The government was only to happy to oblige.
Yep. You should be careful what you ask for.
Today, businesses are up in arms about the “pay czar” who will be the final say over employee compensation at the seven banks who took bail out funds. Of course, the pay czar doesn’t answer to anyone other than the President, and there’s no mandate that compensation be competitive, so those seven banks may well end up boned by losing their best and brightest to places that can compensate them better.
Probably the biggest shock was this past week’s revelation that Bank of America was pressured into acquiring Merrill Lynch, despite the CEO’s misgivings about the whole deal. Of course, there is nothing in the Constitution that gives the government the right to do any such thing. Of course, there’s nothing that gives them the right to bail anyone out either, so it’s hardly groundbreaking news that the government has ignored the Constitution.
The problem here is that this transcends party lines. President Bush started the bailout process, and President Obama has just kept it going. This is why people don’t care much about government and politics, it’s because they can’t tell the difference anymore. Republican and Democrat President’s have both stripped the Constitution even further, pretending that they actually upheld their oaths to “support and defend” it. Unfortunately, they don’t even know what the hell it says apparently.
The only involvement government should have with any business is as a customer. They are a buyer, and nothing else. And not just weapon systems, but things like toilet paper for government offices, paper towels, groceries for the White House and military, etc. That’s it. Could they say “do this or we’ll get our TP somewhere else?” Sure. You and I have the same right, though we typically don’t buy in enough quantity for anyone to actually give a damn.
But the State has gotten involved in every aspect of business, using the interstate commerce clause as their cover, despite the fact that effectively nationalizing GM and AIG go against everything the founders believed as far as economics. However, there is hope. It’s time to contact our elected officials and tell them that we want our nation back. Let’s rally together and press the issue. We can take America back!
We just have to give enough of a damn to actually take it!
