… it’s stampeding fascism. A few tidbits from CNN:
Senate committee to explore taxing AIG bonuses
Senate Democrats want to tax the controversial bonuses doled out to AIG employees who work for the division that led to the company’s downfall.
Obama tries to stop AIG bonuses: ‘How do they justify this outrage?’
President Obama said Monday he will attempt to block bonuses to executives at ailing insurance giant AIG, payments he described as an “outrage.”
Translation: AIG had long ago written “retention bonuses” into it’s contracts with employees, preceding the bailout. The language of the bailout explicity points out that companies are supposed to honor their existing contracts. But… Seneate Democrats and President 0bama nevertheless want to use the power of government to negate existing contracts.
Regardless of your views on AIG or the bailout, having a government come along and arbitrarily crap all over employment contracts is a disastrous notion. What will that do the the business climate if businesses can’t be certain that the contracts they’ve signed are actually going to be worth the paper they’re written on?
But he (0bama) said the impropriety of the bonuses goes beyond economics. “It’s about our fundamental values,” he said.
You’re damned right it’s about our fundamental values. Specifically, our fundamental values of living up to the contracts we agree to. And fascist governmental decrees are *not* fundamental American values. We tried that once before… it was called the New Deal, and it greatly extended the Great Depression. Let’s not try it again, hmmm? To get out of this mess that Congress worked so hard to get us into, we’ll need the biusiness community to be as ready and willing to invest in ideas, people and property as they can be. And a government bleating about 90% tax rates or arbitrarily negating contracts is *not* going to bring those businesses running.
Oh, and it gets better:
Obama, Grassley lead charge against AIG
“Obviously, maybe they ought to be removed,” said Sen. Charles Grassley during an Iowa City radio interview on Monday. “But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they’d follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I’m sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.”
I’m damn near speechless.
4 Responses to “It’s not “creeping” fascism…”
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The funniest part about this whole soap opera is first you have The Messiah in full faux fury over the bonus thing and now it turns out he, pardon me, “He”, was the very person who demanded bonuses be left in. Do you think the media will point that out? Hell no.
This stuff is like some kind of sick media driven witch hunt.
It seems to be a successful witch hunt. There have apparently been some fairly serious death threats leveled at AIG people. And not just from that dumbass Grassley.
[…] ask yourself: if Bush had made this sort of veiled threat/wink-and-a-nod to those who want to kill law abiding Americans, the media would have been all over […]