They Buy You, They Own You!

I wouldn't regard myself as an alarmist. While I'm not a big Obama fan, I've stayed largely silent since he took office. I figured it was only fair to give the guy a while and see what he could do with it.

Well, kudos to him! I'm truly in awe. I never thought we'd become Socialist so quickly, and I lay all the credit at his Stalinist feet, with a tip of the hat to Bush and the gang for so effectively facilitating the transition before he took office.

I don't think I need to rehash the entire economic mess we find ourselves in for all of you reading. We're all painfully aware of it. A lot of us (myself excluded) are angry at a lot of people. Big executives of banks and auto firms seem to be the target of choice these days- well paid, smug, silk suits, private jets- and here we sit from day to day, wondering if we'll get a pink slip, while they collect multi-million dollar bonuses for a job poorly done.

That's easy to get pissed about! And when you're that pissed off, and someone comes along and bitch-slaps the moneymakers around a little, you kinda want to cheer them on.

Look at what's really happened, though.

First, the Obama administration set a salary cap of $500K for executives of corporations taking bailout money. You cheered, because you always thought they made too much anyway. You ignored the obvious- if they set their salaries where they think they ought to be, and we stay mum, they can one day set ours where they feel ours ought to be, also- whether you feel that's high enough or not.

Later on, the Obama administration decided that if GM wanted bailout money, then their CEO, Rick Wagoner, had to go. I'm pretty sure this is the first time the President of the United States has fired an executive of a private company. (Of course, it's hardly a private company anymore, right?) Once again, cheers from many of you, but it seemed a lot more people were a lot more surprised this time around. In fact, a lot of people who were supposed to be cheering were actually starting to sound a little alarmed. Maybe unsettled at this new trend. But not enough to complain too loud, since they thought he kinda deserved it, too.

If he can fire Mr. Wagoner of GM, though, Obama can one day fire you, too, if you're not walking in lockstep with his agenda. Remember that.

But now the most unsettling news of all has come to light. Are you ready for this one?

All of these Obama-moves thus far were based upon the premise that, hey, you companies voluntarily took Government funds to stay afloat, so now the Government gets to call the shots to make sure you don't screw up again. However, it's now coming to light that in some instances, companies that were already staying afloat just fine on their own were forced to take bailout funds (by Bush!), and that Obama is refusing repayment of those funds!

Now why is that? Isn't it a good thing to do, to encourage these companies to repay what we've lent them as soon as possible, so we can recoup our squandered tax funds and rescue our economy?

No. Not if that means giving up power, dumbass! And Obama, who until a couple of months ago had never really run anything before in his life, is really enjoying this whole new Running-The-Entire-World gig. Don't look for him to let any of it go anytime soon.

Once again, I want to reiterate that I hate writing this particular post at all. I hate people who tell me we're on a "slippery slope" and who raise false alarms at every new government policy. But we're not on a slippery slope this time. We've already slid to the bottom. And nobody's up there anymore to throw us a proverbial rope.

But hey, enjoy the New World Order! It looks like it'll be quite an experience!