Barney Frank Wants to Set Pay Levels

The House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Democrat from Massachusetts, has approved legislation (Pay for Performance Act of 2009) that would give Treasury Secretary and Turbo-Tax Cheat Timothy Geithner, draconian control over salaries of employees who work for businesses that received bailout funds from the federal government.

Harmless, right? After all, if they received "taxpayer" money then shouldn't we have a say in what these people make for a living? Uh..., "NO!" What qualifies Barney Frank and Turbo-Tax Cheat Timothy Geithner to determine what pay is unreasonable or excessive among private, non-government businesses? What qualifies them to judge the performance of any employee at any company? Are they going to giving performance reviews, hiring and firing, too? Is there no line that these ass-clowns won't cross?

A couple of points. First of all, these are supposedly "loans" to these companies, meaning that the government is expecting to get paid back. So it's not really a handout, if it's a loan, right? Or, does the government really intend for these "loans" to truly be handouts, kind of like the kind of loan a parent gives their 50 year-old deadbeat kid that still lives in the basement? The government is, in essence, acting as a banker to the bankers (and other firms).

Do you know any other bank that would micro-manage a lending customer in such an intrusive manner? Like, "I lent you money, therefore, I get to set the salaries of your employees. I know more about your business than you do. I know how much each of your employees is worth, and you don't." These people have a serious case of Napoleon complex.

Secondly, the government forced several of these institutions to take the money because if only the weak companies received the money, it would potentially cause people to panic, resulting in a "run on the bank."

The bailouts were wrong to begin with, but allowing the government to determine the payroll of private businesses is a major abuse of their power. We are giving power over the private economy to the federal government at an alarming rate. The degree of government intrusion, in almost all areas of life, is completely out-of-control. The government has officially run amok.

This certainly is not capitalism. It may be socialism; it may be fascism; it may be communism, but it is not free markets, free enterprise, or a free society any longer. If anyone's pay is excessive, it's the bumbling, bureaucratic bums in Washington, D.C.