Tarring in the Public Square

This makes sense at first glance, but stand back and maybe reread slowly for the deep and long-term impact of what this really tells us:

Read This Slowly, Then Consider the Implications

Of course, the folks who elected the Messiah will embrace this. It will even be considered bold and courageous by the middle class of small families and home-owners. It is hard to question it. Now consider some questions:

If you work for a profit-motivated company and they establish guidelines for a bonus, and you then meet those guidelines even when the financial world is collapsing all around you, should the government come in and “ex post facto” either penalize or vilify your success?

Did you notice that there is no linkage to the “fat cat CEOs” getting the millions in compensation and the specific companies receiving TARP money?

If your company received TARP money and you fall under the pay cap, handsome though it might be, could you quit? Or will the government indenture you?

If you quit, how likely is it that the company could hire a competent CEO to jump into the sinking boat and take command knowing that the potential reward for success is limited compared to your potential earnings in another endeavor; and the penalty for failure is a destroyed career with little opportunity to return to succeed in the future?

If the government can cap the pay of a CEO of a private corporation under a Board of Directors and shareholders who is to say what the government established “appropriate” compensation and bonuses might be in the future? What “dumbing down” did for education, this will do for highly motivated, competent executives.

If this can be applied to companies receiving TARP funds, why couldn’t or shouldn’t it be extended to companies receiving government contracts?

Where can we find the Presidential authority to establish such rule for compensation in Article II of the Constitution? In other words, is this Constitutional in the current court?

WHAT ARE THE APPROPRIATE LIMITS ON GOVERNMENT IN A FREE MARKET CAPITALIST SOCIETY?

Or, is it true that we are no longer such an entity?