Obama’s war on free enterprise

Over the weekend, AIG announced that it is going ahead with it’s plans to pay executive bonuses.  These are apparently bonuses that they are contractually obligated to pay.  They are, like most companies, bound by the contracts and commitments that they have agreed to.

But for some strange reason, the anti-capitalism democrats don’t like this.  First up with an attack was slobbering Barney Frank:

“Forget about the legal matter here for a second…These bonuses are going to people who screwed this thing up enormously, who made terrible decisions…I want to look at it very carefully…These people may have a right to their bonuses — they don’t have a right to their jobs forever.”

I guess slobbering Barney doesn’t remember pressuring the Bush administration to relax the lending requirements which helped get us into this mess.  And Barney just happened to forget that his boyfriend was an executive with Fannie Mae at the time when the mortgage loan crisis was occurring.  No, slobbering Barney and the liberal democrats in congress are completely innocent.  Corporate America, represented here by AIG is completely to blame.  They screwed this up — they made the bad decisions.  Sure.  Whatever Barney.

Now the big man, the big “O” himself, president Obama has weighed in on this controversy.  Today he said:

“This is a corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed.  Under these circumstances, it’s hard to understand how derivative traders at AIG warranted any bonuses, much less $165 million in extra pay.”

“I’ve asked Secretary Geithner to use that leverage and pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.  This is not just a matter of dollars and cents. It’s about our fundamental values.”

There’s just so much wrong with his comments…where do I begin?

Greed.  Obama used the “G” word again.  He says that those working for AIG are greedy.  Once again, being successful and earning a living is something bad in his view.  Those greedy rich traders should be punished.  They don’t deserve to earn a living.  They should all default on their mortgages and live on the street.  Blah, blah, blah.

Of course he didn’t say what he considers greedy.  Exactly how much is someone allowed to earn Mr. Obama?  Have you filled all of your cabinet positions in the ministry of fairness yet?  Have you signed your executive orders which outline how much each and every person in this nation is allowed to earn?  What about liberal Hollywood?  Aren’t they greedy too?  Are you also going to cap their earnings?  I didn’t think so.

$165 million in extra pay.  Hey, Mr. Obama, it’s not extra pay if that’s what your employment contract calls for.  It’s part of your total compensation package — it’s not extra.

What exactly have you ordered Secretary Geithner to do, Mr. Obama?  Do you want him to nullify all of AIGs contracts?  Or do you want your treasury-tax-cheat-in-charge to play fast and loose with the laws of this country (again) and coerce AIG to not pay these bonuses?  Skirting the laws should be easy for Mr. Geithner, since he has a vast amount of experience in this regard.

The last time I looked (although admittedly this may have changed since Jan 20), we were still a nation of law.  I know this is a new concept to many of your appointees, but we have this pesky little thing called contract law.  It means that you can’t just walk away from a contract without consequences.  Or are you planning on rewriting contract law in your spare time after you’ve saved the world?  Exactly how much government intervention in free enterprise are you planning on introducing?

All companies need to keep and attract the very best talent, especially in this difficult economic environment.  That includes companies that took taxpayer bailout funds like AIG.  If these companies can’t offer competitive compensation, the talent will go elsewhere.  Or to put it another way:  The very talent that they need to turn the company around and pay back the taxpayer investment will go elsewhere.  Then what will AIGs financial future look like?  Then how much more taxpayer money will need to be pumped into AIG to keep them alive?

Mr. Obama, you referred to the pork-laden spending bill as “old business”.  You refused to fight against the ~9000 earmarks that were in the bill.  Well, Mr. Obama, AIGs bonuses are also “old business”.  They are the result of contracts that were already in place long before you came on the scene.  And they represent less than 1/10 of 1 percent of the taxpayer funds that they have received.

Obama’s war on free enterprise, contract law, the greed rich traders of AIG and anyone who dreams of succeeding in America.

More change you can believe in.