The Pursuit of Control

It isn’t often that Barney Frank tells the truth as plainly as he did on The Ed Show yesterday, though he never fails to surround himself with lies, and this quote is no different:

The right wing took control of government and ruined it, they gave it a bad reputation. Now that we are trying on every front to increase the role of government in the regulatory area, we run into this public opinion that says ‘hey those are the guys that screwed up Katrina…’

So in Frank’s attempt to explain why more and more people don’t want the federal government taking over our private businesses, running the healthcare industry and meddling in our lives far more than they should, he blames the public’s skepticism on how Katrina was handled? Maybe someone should tell Barney that it has very little to do with Katrina and everything to do with out of control spending, bloated government budgets, the utter failure of every government entitlement program and the simple fact that no one trusts Congress to do anything in the interest of the people anymore.

You have to at least respect that Frank told us the truth about the government’s power grab, just like he told us his opinion on single payer, which is more than you can say for the President. Wait, the president wants single payer too?!

Reports are that Kenneth Feinberg, Barack Obama’s pay czar, has developed a plan to cut the compensation of the 25 top executives at seven companies that received a substantial amount of government bailout money. According to the Fox News article the total compensation of these executives would be cut by about 50 percent, while the highest paid would have them cut by about 90 percent. The companies reportedly impacted are AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.

Talk about a slippery slope. Are these seven companies a test run for Feinberg so he can see public reaction before moving on to others that received bailout money? At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, that is exactly what this feels like.

Several smart, conservative people I know and respect reacted to this as though it were a good thing, like these top executives were getting what they deserve. That is scary. Don’t get me wrong, I believe many of these top executives are grossly overpaid and are some of the most self-serving, greedy people in the world (second only to Washington politicians), but government intervention is NOT how we handle it. This sets a terrible precedent and before long the pay czar will be setting up a compensation schedule for other companies and then other industries and before you know it the government will be setting salaries for everyone. Again, given the actions of the current administration I don’t believe this is merely conspiracy theory.

If I think that a company mishandles funds by paying out excessive compensation, I won’t do business with them. AIG, Bank of America, GMAC and Citigroup are all public companies, owned by shareholders. There are annual shareholder meetings and a board of directors in charge of approving compensation. If you don’t like how much a company’s executive is making, don’t do business with them and don’t buy shares of their company, it’s as simple as that. Take responsibility for your own actions. How can you complain about executive pay at Bank of America while standing in line to deposit your check at their bank?

People have been warped by the media to believe that big corporations are the enemy and that the government is here to look after you when that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The government is simply after control. The more that they can control, the more power they have. The government was never meant to be as powerful as it is today. Our founding fathers were very skeptical about giving a central body any sort of power for fear of what is happening today. We are quickly moving from a government of, by and for the people to a government full of politicians that believe they know what is best for the people and are capable of controlling every aspect of your life.

If you are truly concerned about the audacious actions of the administration of Barack Obama and today’s out of control government this is not a victory, this is a slap in the face of capitalism and one more step towards socialism.

Dear President Obama,

I know that you and your friends in Washington aren’t familiar with the concept, but you should all try telling the truth.  I don’t mean tell the truth sometimes, when it fits your agenda, I mean all the time, just be honest.

You say you want competition in the healthcare industry, but before you were president you said that you support a single payer healthcare system and the rumors are you are pushing a public option plan behind closed doors.

You promised to be the most transparent administration in this country’s history, yet you surround yourself with ’special advisors’ that aren’t subjected to senate approval and that have, at best, questionable backgrounds.

You said illegal aliens wouldn’t receive health care coverage in the proposed healthcare reform bill, but the bill says the stipulation denying them benefits won’t be enforced.

You said Afghanistan is the war we should be fighting, but you won’t do what it takes to win it. In fact you won’t even let some testify in front of Congress so that the American people might hear what they have to say.

You said the stimulus bill is working to save jobs, yet we continue to hemorrhage jobs every month and some say we are heading for a terrible ‘double-dip’ recession.

President Obama, I know that those on both sides of the aisle have difficulties in telling the public what they really think, but not many are as shameless in their lies as you. Your approval rating has dipped below 50%. It seems like every time you get up and speak about healthcare reform another lie is uncovered, another point drops off of your approval rating and more and more people change the channel. Despite your efforts to mask your true beliefs we’ve all seen them. They can be found in the words of Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Van Jones and Valerie Jarrett and they can be found in speeches you’ve made to unions and community organizations.

President Obama, the truth can set you free, and whether you decide to grow up and be honest with the American people or not, in 2012, the truth will set us free.