A few months ago I posted an article ( the Czars Epidemic) about the sweeping powers that are possessed by the Obama Administration’s czars. In it, I warned that not only did they have the authority to pass sweeping legislation, but that these positions provided the President with a valuable asset…. plausible deniability. Well news just broke that the Special Master for Compensation (yes, that’s Kenneth “anything is possible under the law” Feinberg) has decided to cut salaries of the top executives of bailed-out Wall Street firms by 90% and overall compensation will fall by about 50%. And guess what? The President says he had no idea this was happening.
I understand that many people think that these executives deserve what ever happens to them since they took taxpayer money, and that’s a valid argument. However, there are a few things that we should take careful note of here. (1.) When the government offers to “help” a person or business, watch out! (2.) These companies hired some of the best and the brightest to restructure their practices. Do you think they’ll stick around after a 90% pay decrease? (3.) If the President was truly unaware that this was happening and can’t control his appointees, shouldn’t he put a stop to this whole czar thing? (4.) Do we really believe that an appointed official would make a decision without the approval of the only man he answers to?
This is a perfect example of the threat so-called czars pose. No one voted on this decision. No congressional hearings were held. No elected official will answer to the public.
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I think the entire czar scenario is a very dangerous path to be on, not to mention a slippery one. Once it gets started, it is very hard to stop.
Well said Augur. I did a similar post exploring what might happen to people receiving the government drug. When they can do this to executives, who is next? The rest of us????