The Salary Cap
Don Boudreaux points out the frightening precedent set by Obama’s bailout stipulations in this article in the Pittsburgh Tribune:
Government is now increasingly in the business of determining salaries and deciding whether firms can have private jets. These matters — salaries and jets — are lightning rods for public attention. So they are,ipso facto, lightning rods for politicians’ attention. [...] Is Bank of America spending oodles of money on advertising? Horrors! Make it stop. Is General Motors planning to install machinery that will displace some workers? Never! Make it stop. Is Chrysler appointing yet another middle-aged straight white male as its president? Racist homophobic chauvinists! Make them appoint a handicapped lesbian of color. [...] Whatever the political fear or fad du jour, be sure that it will be revealed in gaudy orders given by Washington to whatever firms feasted on its bailout bounty.
Comment by David S. McQueen on 11 February 2009:
The actions by Obama, thus far, are very scary.Not only is he dictating to the private sector that he can control salary levels, he has also stopped a trial of a terrorist. I did not know that the executive branch had that much power. In fact, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t.So, is Obama simply running the country the way he wants, sans rule of law? If that’s the case, we are all in very big trouble.
Comment by Carl Clegg on 11 February 2009:
David, Obama and his minions are unleashing pent up liberal desires that have been suppressed by years of a political balance that tilted the other way. Congress is really doing the same. They are like children in a candy store. The question is: will their current actions accelerate the swing of the political pendulum back to the right or will we be called upon to suffer through another New Deal era of failed policy and certain economic malaise that will take years or even generations to correct?