Such government micromanagement of the economy is everywhere. The Post recently reported that Richard Wagoner, the former CEO of General Motors who was removed by the government, remains on GM’s payroll “because senior Treasury officials have yet to decide whether he should get the $20 million severance package that the company had promised him.” His 2009 compensation — $1 — is payable Dec. 31. The $20 million promised to him includes contractual awards, deferred compensation and pension benefits accrued over 32 years with the company. Promise-keeping, including honoring contracts, is the default position of a lawful society. But suddenly, many citizens’ legal claims are merely starting points for negotiations with an overbearing government.
George Will: Shock and Awe Statism
Posted in * Economics, Politics, Economy, Office of the President, Politics in General, President Barack Obama, The 2009 Obama Administration Bank Bailout Plan, The 2009 Obama Administration Housing Amelioration Plan, The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--, The Fiscal Stimulus Package of 2009, The National Deficit, The Possibility of a Bailout for the U.S. Auto Industry, The September 2008 Proposed Henry Paulson 700 Billion Bailout Package, The U.S. Government, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner
10 comments on “George Will: Shock and Awe Statism”
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Again, it shows the inexperience and bad judgment this administration is exercising. Also, the knee-jerk reactionary policies they are putting into place. If they would have just taken the time to LISTEN to a multitude of advisors instead of surrounding the President with ‘yes men’, perhaps we would be seeing a different reaction.
But Obama was raised at the feet of people like Rev. Wright, William Ayers, and others for whom statism and ‘redistribution of wealth’ and apologies for the American way of life is a desired goal. And this was pointed out before the election, but those who were doing the pointing were put down and vilified by the MSM, so their words were lost in the adulation-fest.
So is anyone surprised?
Jim Elliott
Florida
No. A lot of this will be struck down as the law suits begin to roll in? The question is will this government be governed by law?
We’re all Chicagoans now…prepare to be “organized.”
I am amazed at the dramatic changes in ‘society’ in the last decade. In 1999 things that were unthinkable are, in 2009, now standard.
I have little pity for folks who are “amazed at what is happening”. What were you people doing during the election of 2008? Listening to MSNBC and CNN I guess, or worse, NPR? Sorry folks, this is not surprising given the outcome of the election. It’s just so damn sad that it takes so many, so long, to catch on.
Focus all your efforts in getting a Republican majority victory in the 2010 elections. Not that I have much faith in the modern-day Republican party, BUT it would give a roadblock to a Democratic railroading of legislation.
I’m hopeful, guardedly, about the Indiana pension lawsuit Will refers to. As the Indiana state Treasurer says, Indiana retired teachers and police officers are being “ripped off by the federal government.”
The fact that the Obama administration is riding roughshod over the bankruptcy laws and giving creditors less than they would have gotten in Chapter 7 should give everyone pause. Obama cannot prattle on about obeying the law when he breaks it with impunity.
When Hugo Chavez did the same thing to Venuzualian auto companies, the US media cried ‘foul!’ all over the place, and condemned him for his socialistic dictatorship actions. Yet when Obama does it, “oh, isn’t he nice to help out the poor, ailing auto company!” 🙄
I weep over every executive compelled to live in a multimillion dollar house, reduced to having a small number of servants and groundskeepers, forced to depend on 6 cars instead of 10, driven to the brink of the upper-upper middle class by a heartless, thieving government.