The American Spectator

J David| 12.11.08 @ 10:46AM

Once the so-called "bailout"(gov't BUYING a 9billion market cap with 15 billion of taxpayer money, and that is just the "bridge loan" to get them to Feb when the REALLY BIG MONEY starts flowing, to keep the SOCIALIST unions alive) of failing car companies happens the gov't becomes the natural ENEMY of car companies in America that are succeeding, and making a profit, as those companies, employing just as many Americans as the failures, are now COMPETITORS. All of the companies bought by the gov't become gov't employees payed involuntarily out of our taxes.

So, that means that all Americans working for profitable car companies (and eventually all companies competing with whatever the gov't has bailed out) are PAYING, from their earnings, for their own gov't to use their power to tax and regulate, and make onerous laws against their own companies in favor of the now-gov't-owned failures. Someone please tell me how that is A) NOT raw communism, and B) How that helps any business in America, or any consumer buying their products, and C) Why any private-owned business should or could remain that way once they try to compete with the same power that regulates them, and D) Why the gov't, once attaining that power over the individual, and all else, could be induced to giving that power up... EVER! It won't matter what promises are made on paper, there is always another "crisis" around the corner and a commie-lib, lapdog, gov't-supported MSM to promote that "crisis".

Once the gov't got control of financial institutions, and the flow of private capital (and private risk/investment) it was over. The dominoes are falling and there is NO STOPPING THEM NOW, Comrades!

Bob| 12.11.08 @ 10:57AM

In general, I agree with Cox. None of us should like the government interfering with private enterprise. However, Cox made a couple of very large mistakes. He let unregulated investment banks leverage to new heights without oversight and then supported mark to market accounting which was in his purview. These things obviously went together for if you do one, you need to do the other to enhance transparency. He was absolutely wrong on these two actions because he didn't realize -- and he should have -- that leverage causes big downsides just as it enables large upsides. So there is a bit of revisionist history here which he, and President Bush, seem to want to do right now.

That said, Cox is a good guy but made the same mistakes as Greenspan because he was closely tied to Wall Street and didn't want to upset his friends. I saw some of these things when I worked at AIG several years ago and did sensitivity analyses on some financial guarantees. Cox was a politician, not a business professional, so we need to cut him a break. Greenspan should have known better.

All this aside, the government does not understand how to run a business or how to invest money and they need to be out of this arena as soon as possible. I watched the hearings on the auto bailout and couldn't comprehend the stupid questions being asked by the politicians. No one asked the right questions -- and we're going to have an "auto czar"????

biniki| 8.28.09 @ 10:48PM

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