Government controlled income
Kenneth Feinberg is Obama’s “pay czar”. Bank of America, American International Group, Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial all received part of the last TARP bailout. As such, Kenneth Feinberg has decided that he sets the salaries of whoever he wants at those companies.
Guess what other “companies” have the federal government as an investor?
Public colleges, state administrations, local high schools, area development districts, community service programs, you name it. Using the logic of Feinebrg, they all answer to him now. No president is needed. No Congress to authorize it. No Senate to OK it. Whatever he sees fit, that’s the final word.
Someone care to explain to me when I authorized Kenneth Feinberg to randomly decide who makes what? When did Congress cede their right to authorize budgeting by Feinberg and his staff?
This is a duty that falls squarely under the auspices of Congress. Not the president. And most certainly not someone who has no Constitutional authority over anything. If Feinberg dicked around with my compensation, I’d sue him personally in a heartbeat.
The second aspect of this that bugs me is the mere concept of income control by a central government figure. You just don’t get any more communist than that. Just ask Anita Dunn. She knows all about communism and should therefore know the Communist Manifesto by heart. Quite frankly, the President’s staff seems to know and respect the Communist Manifesto a lot moreso than the US Constitution.
Constitution Club
[...] Without any constitutional authority whatsoever, he decided TARP recipients’ salaries. That’s just communism. When Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto, one of the key elements was controlled income. [...]