Just when I thought I had said all I needed to say about Barney Frank, that unhappy bully comes up with another idea certain to slow the economy. Didn’t he do enough when he thwart reforms of the Government-supported Enterprises (GSE), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Now, we learn that the mean-spirited Mr. Frank is acting on his long-expressed intentions to restrict executive compensation at all US corporations, “not just TARP recipients.“Â Byron York reports:
But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the “Pay for Performance Act of 2009,” would impose government controls on the pay of all employees — not just top executives — of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.
Transferring ever more power to the government. That seems to be the Democrats’ game plan. Before they continue their game, they should study those nations which have done just that, taking a close look at their economic record. They didn’t see the kind of growth and innovation that has, by and large, defined the American economy, for the last sixty years.
What is Barney’s animus to capitalism, to private enterprise? He bends over backwards to prevent increased federal regulation of agencies backed up by the federal government, yet is ever eager to control institutions which have helped spur perhaps the great amount of wealth creation in human history. Institutions, I might add, upon whose success, the federal government depends for its revenue.
Looks like a few people need to read Mark Levin’s book.
This nonsense is approaching the real eco-political definition of Fascism…not the false definition flung around by the Liberals…government control of corporations and business via “comply, or else….“. National Socialism and Fascist Socialism sought to manipulate the national economy by exerting state-control over the corporate-core of the economy, while paying lip-service to Capitalist-ownership by maintaining the public-fiction that the shareholders still owned and controlled them.
First it’s the financial services-sector; then the US auto/heavy machine industry and by-extension the entire component parts and distribution chain. We know they want to control the health-care, and big pharma’s likely next too. …Where will it stop? Just those four key industries represent a huge-portion of the GDP…and all controlled by the Federal Government via “obey, or else“.
Where will they stop? ….What’s next? A two-word hint; agricultural subsidies”.
You need to change the threadline. It’s not just executives… it’s all employees of firms receiving bailout funds. Next, it will be all government contractors.
Just an idle question:
How many of the people potentially affected by Barney Frank’s assclownery happen to be….gay?
Ten bucks says a lot of them are already developing a bad case of buyer’s remorse vis a vis last November.
#3 – Mark, the problem is that he has to be reelected by his district; so following that line of reasoning, if he keeps his constituents happy, he’ll be reelected.
It must be something in the water.
Regards,
Peter H.
A “Pay for Performance Act” applied to Congress would cut payroll expenses by about 95%.
We should see a “creepy obsession with Bawney Fwank” comment in 3…2…1…
#2: “You need to change the threadline. It’s not just executives… it’s all employees of firms receiving bailout funds. Next, it will be all government contractors.”
V the K, you took the words right out of my mouth. This is how government infects everything it touches–incrementally. First, they get to set the salaries of every employee at every company receiving bailout funds (or a “capital investment”) from the government. Then, in the dead of night, behind closed doors, Pelosi, Reid, and crew make a small “amendment” to the law that they know will snag government contractors in the net. And if confronted, they’ll accuse conservatives of being paranoid, stating that it’s just a “clarification” to existing law and what could possibly be the big deal? And by the time they are done, “capital investment” will have morphed into any private business applying to a government entity for a business license or a permit.
This is what Geithner meant when he said that capitalism would be “different.”
The problem is that he has to be reelected by his district; so following that line of reasoning, if he keeps his constituents happy, he’ll be reelected.
It must be something in the water.
I think people in Massachusetts just plain hate the other United States, and re-electing Frank, Kennedy, and Kerry is how they show it.
On the light side, I owe Barney Frank and Ted Kennedy a million thanks!
THANK YOU for being such low-lifes that I could not live in Massachusetts when I graduated from college 30+ years ago. Rather than deal with Mass politics, I left my ancestral home and left for warmer climes.
THANK YOU for waking me up early to the truth about the left.
THANK YOU from Miami! You’re 1800 miles away and I wish you were further — like in Tunisia or somewhere similar!
#6. Yes, that is, if they didnt exempt themselves from the very bills they pass inside the Beltway!!! California government hasnt cut back any of the “perks” that Assemblymen get on a daily basis. Assemblymen get $175 per day to help them pay for their meals. I dont get paid by my employer for meals. Alot of the ignorant people who voted for these people dont make that much per day. The Assembly Speaker was whining about her $165,000 salary as barely being enough for her to get by on last Fall. Nope, dont expect the Congress or the Senate to even make any concession that affects their wallets!!!
Yup, Dan, you’ve made a misstatement. Frank wants to control the salaries of ALL employees, not just executives.
Not a whole helluva difference there on the local level, at least.
Rejoice people!
The Democrats have finally taken off the mask. Their true nature — dyed-in-the-wool socialists — is on display for all the world to see. This is a good thing.
Do not forget that “federal money” has always had strings attached. The reason governors are turning down parts of the “stimulus” pork is because they do not want the unending, unfunded federal requirements that will ensue.
Barney is simply using the same methods the government has been using for decades to make rules at the local level.
I’m tired of reading “in a little-noticed move” that always seem to preface these proposed lurches to the left. Where is our watchdog media?
In Baraks/Democrats pockets