California Conservative

Almost everything that the government attempts to do, it fails at. (The military is the sole exception at this late hour.) That’s why we should be worried now that President Obama has fired Rick Wagoner and taken control of GM. Larry Kudlow nails it in this op-ed:

Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), probably the most knowledgeable man in Congress about the car bailout, and someone who argued months ago in favor of a pre-planned government-sponsored bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler, calls the Wagoner firing “a major power-grab by the White House on the heels of another power-grab from Secretary Geithner, who asked last week for the freedom to decide on his own which companies are ’systemically’ important to our country and worthy of taxpayer investment, and which are not.” Corker calls this “a marked departure from the past,” “truly breathtaking,” and something that “should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise.”

Mr. Corker has hit the nail on the head. And I think his idea of “a truly breathtaking” government departure from American free enterprise, whether it’s the banks or the bankrupt Detroit carmakers, is exactly what caused stocks to plunge 250 points on Monday.

I argued at the time that it shouldn’t be called a auto bailout, that it was really a bailout of the UAW. In light of the fact that the unions are ramping up their lobbying efforts to pass EFCA, it’s easy to understand that this administration is doing its best to resurrect unions. Unfortunately, that’s just the tip of a gigantic iceberg.

BTW, here’s surefire proof that the Obama administration cares more about grabbing and maintaining control of power:

Incidentally, most of the big bankers who met with President Obama in the White House last Friday want to pay back their TARP money, not take more of it. But the Treasury is conducting stress tests that could stop the TARP pay-downs and force the banks to take more taxpayer funds in return for even more federal control.

The big bankers say they are profitable. And with an upward-sloping Treasury yield curve and some market-to-market accounting reform coming from the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the outlook for banks should be getting better, not worse. So why is the Treasury jamming more TARP money down bankers’ throats, especially after announcing a new plan to use private capital to clean up bank balance sheets and solve the toxic-asset problem?

Does that sound like proof that the Obama administration wants to just get rid of toxic assets before setting the TARPed banks free? Or does that sound like proof tha they want to maintain their control over these banks? Better yet, what constitutional authority gives them the right to be uberregulators of any private business?

Based on their performance in running the economy into the ground, why should we trust DC’s bureaucrats and politicians with the job of running multi-billion dollar industries?

That’s why people should be very, very afraid.

Technorati Tags: TARP, Auto Bailout, General Motors, Rick Wagoner, Nationalization, President Obama, Democrats, Bob Corker, Republicans