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March 19, 2009
A Pox On All Their Houses
This whole situation with AIG and the bonuses is an absolute disaster. Not because of the bonuses, which are small potatoes, but for where all this is headed. In fact the whole thing disgusts me to the point where this is going to be a pretty short post.
First off, conservatives should not defend AIG or the bonuses. The father of modern American conservatism, William F. Buckley Jr., criticized similar behavior by Viacom a few years ago. When your company is failing you do not pay anyone a bonus for anything. When you take money from the government you do not pay anyone a bonus for anything. I've heard all of the rationalizations and none of them hold water. Can't these guys go without the big bucks for a few quarters?
Most Democrats, of course, are demagoguing the issue for all it's worth, the worst being Barney Frank, a man who ought to be investigated himself. Of the many ironies we now know that Sen. Chris Dodd added the very provisions that made the bonuses possible to the so-called stimulus bill that made the bonuses possible, after first lying about it. Tax-cheat Geithner "admitted that his staff encouraged lawmakers to take out a key provision in last month's stimulus that would have taxed executive compensation in an attempt to discourage companies such as AIG from handing out excessive bonuses while receiving billions of taxpayer dollars."
The reason why no one figured out what was going on is that President Obama insisted that we pass his fantastically huge stimulus bill in record speed before anyone had time to read it. Obama didn't read it. No Democrat in Congress read it. We were told it was so important to pass it to "save the economy," a complete fiction since that was never its real purpose.
To cover themselves the House passed 328-90 a 90% tax on the bonuses. Many in the GOP are going along because, after all, the bonuses were outrageous, and there seems no other solution. Minority Leader Boehner said it right though when he said "Are you kidding me? This is joke. Vote no." He might have added that the whole thing pointed to the folly of bailouts in the first place, but oops it was President Bush and Treasury Secretary Paulson who pushed us into accepting the first bailout.
Then we have the news that Barack Obama signed a $500,000 deal for a children's propaganda book days before his inaguration. When Gingrich did something similar in 1994 media outcry was so fierce he returned the money. Yes I know, Newt's deal was for $4.5 million, quite a bit more. I don't see that makes a difference. Anyway, you can be assured that there will be no pressure on Obama to give the money back, or to give it to charity since we're in a terrible recession - oh wait that was his line last week. Rather than take charge and get his economic team in order, Obama's way of dealing with the crisis is to waste time on NCAA picks and jet out of town to do the Tonight Show. Good grief.
Where is all this headed? I'll tell you.
The purpose of the left is to place an upper limit on salaries. They simply don't like that some people make a lot of money. Obama said as much during the campaign, and anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear figured it out. Just as they're getting ready to go after charities, they're going after the wealthy. If you didn't follow my links above, the purpose of the stimulus was 1) to move us in the direction of becoming a European-style socialist state, and 2) create a permanent majority bloc of Democrat voters by making as many people dependent on government as possible. Right now it's AIG, tomorrow it'll be other companies.
Not that there's an easy solution to our current situation. It's mostly a banking crisis, and until Obama and his tax-cheat of a Treasury Secretary figure out how to deal with the "toxic assets," as they're called, we're not going to move forward anywhere fast. If they both didn't behave so badly, I'd have more sympathy, since like dealing with Pakistan there is no easy solution. The whole thing was caused by the malfeasance of both parties over the years. No one is except, though since the Democrats are in charge it is right that they get the blame.
Right now we're all entertained by the circus in Washington. Hold on to your seatbelts, because the next few years are going to be a wild ride.
On Another Note
This is somewhat separate from the subject of this post but I can't resist. Remember that 25 box set of 'classic' American movies that Obama gave to Prime Minister Gordon Brown?
Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words "wrong region" came up on his screen.
It was bad enough that the White House gave a stupid gift like this to the world leader or our most precious ally, especially coming on the heals of returning the bust of Churchill and getting as a gift a penholder carved from the timbers of an anti-slavery ship. Now we learn that in addition to being completely insensitive to protocol and history, they're incompetent at the White House as well.
Posted by Tom at March 19, 2009 9:00 PM
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Comments
Dodd should go. Geitner should go. Are you happy now?
This was going well until the ridiculous gift giving item Tom. If the Prime Minister is going to think less of the most powerful nation on earth because he can't watch his DVD collection then he's the one with the problem. And if you're mad because Obama thinks he has time to appear on Leno then you must be equally outrages that Gordon Brown has time time watch DVDs.
Personally, I don't think Prime Minister Brown cares about that.
Posted by: truth101 at March 19, 2009 10:26 PM
Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have put that bit about Obama and the DVDs in.
Of course it won't change Brown's policies towards us. But you do have to admit, if Bush had done it, or had left in the middle of a crisis to appear on Leno, the NYT, WaPo, MSNBC, etc, would be going bezerk, and you on the left would be demanding his head.
Posted by: Tom the Redhunter at March 19, 2009 10:49 PM
Well, yeah. But we would have been funnier.
Posted by: truth101 at March 20, 2009 7:58 PM
Listen, we SHOULD be criticizing President Obama right now. It wasn't that long ago that he told us to start fattening up our kids with the remaining food we had in our empty cupboards because we would need them as a future food source to survive. That was how bad things were.
In the meantime, he has lavish parties nearly every weekend, loves the cover of magazines and is supposedly delegating more of his work. He seems to relish in the "celebrity" part of his Presidency and loves to surround himself with people who love to smell his farts.
I'm sick of having a "rock star" and "celebrity" President. That isn't why I elect member. Though I'm sure that is exactly why the emotional, irrational left elected him.
It's painfully obvious that he needs to direct more of his attention on his administration. Instead, he prisses and glides around for the cameras telepromter at the ready. After all, its his butt on the line.
Posted by: Jason at March 20, 2009 9:00 PM
I won't agrue that some of his appointments are dissappointments. I will fight back when somebody, especially from the Party of Reagan attacks Obama for delegating and acting like a celebrity.
Posted by: truth101 at March 21, 2009 11:35 PM
Reagan a celebrity? You have to be worshipped and loved by the media for that? Are you sure you are aware of the differences between Republicans and Democrats? One is accepted by the establishment and news papers, the other not so much. They are usually swept into office on a tide of public approval.
To say that Reagan was a celebrity or was even remotely loved by the media and liberals is a silly comment to make.
Posted by: Jason at March 22, 2009 12:00 PM
A most serious issue lately is Obama's huge blunder of handing the Grand Ayatollah Ali Khomeinei and olive branch, and an offer to negotiate. Iran's quick rejection was quite predictable, and an international embarrassment for the U.S. The Old Mullahs are still tittering in their beards!
Hot-Air Politics obviously works well here at home, but is not very effective when dealing with Suicidal Maniacs with a Mahdi Prophet! reb
Posted by: Ralph E. at March 24, 2009 11:50 PM
By handing Ali the olive branch of negotiation, he allowed him to spite himself Ralph. Whatever President Obama does now regarding Iran is fair game because it was now Iran that refused to negotiate.
No president has had Iran bombed even though it deserved a good bombing Ralph. Maybe there is something more here than you understand, or choose to understand.
Posted by: truth101 at March 26, 2009 5:48 AM
Truth101 - Obama's tactic will only be valid if and only if he gets tough once (ok, "if") Iran rejects the olive branch.
Let's also recall that every administration from Carter on has talked to the Iranians.
Further, it's not been just us speaking to the Iranians about their nuclear program. The EU3 (Britain, France, and Germany) have talked to them for years to no avail.
Are we to believe that Obama can succeed where everyone else has failed? If so, why? Because he doesn't use threats? Please.
We shall see how effective Obama's skills are. Just know that Iran is only 1-2 years from getting the bomb, so time is running short. Worst, the longer we wait the harder a military strike becomes because there's more to hit and it's more developed. Finally, I'm not optimistic that we even can know with precision when they'll be able to go nuclear.
Posted by: Tom the Redhunter at March 26, 2009 8:38 PM
Your analysis as to where all this is heading is spot-on in my opinion. The class warfare propaganda is in full swing and too many GOP leaders are jumping on the bandwagon. As I hear people talking about how executives should kill themselves and I hear about death threats against bankers I get an eerie feeling that we are looking at a very old ploy being re-played. In this version wall street and banking executives are filling the role of Stalin's Kulaks as our rulers seek to re-make society and direct rage at "enemies" of the people. I thought I was overreacting until I read what Michelle Malkin has written about the plans of the protesters at the upcoming G20 summit are. I hate to say it, but it seems the brownshirts have been whipped into a frenzy.
Posted by: chris at March 29, 2009 1:34 PM
Thank you for stopping by, Chris. I agree that the circus on Capitol Hill led by Barney Frank et al has led to a mob mentality by some. Very disturbing.
Posted by: Tom the Redhunter at March 29, 2009 8:20 PM
