Obama loves bailouts. They are the best thing that ever happened to the radical leftist/socialist cause. When capitalism worked (meaning all of the past 200+ years), radical leftist politicians like Obama couldn't tell Wall Street or banks or developers or auto companies or Fortune 500 CEO's what to do. When CEO's were actually making money, they could (and did) tell the government, government bureaucrats and politicians like Obama to shove off. Money equals independence and individualism. No government bureaucrat could ever boss the captains of capitalism around- not as long as capitalism worked.
But here's the problem- the last year has been the worst year in the history of American big business (as reported in Fortune only days ago). Banks are failing. Public companies are failing. Previously perfect Wall Street stock firms and investment banks are failing. The Big 3 automakers are failing. Big insurance companies (like AIG) are failing. Media companies- from newspapers to television networks- are failing. This was just the opening the socialists needed to not just destroy capitalism, but to literally highjack and take control of American big business. Obama now has virtually the entire business community (and national media) by the balls. If you want his bailout money, you have to play by his rules. Dissent is silenced. Obama is the bosses of bosses, "the capo di tutti capi." Obama now orders CEO's around like the new White House puppy Bo.
If you run an auto company, you either use the bailout money to prop up bloated union contracts that destroyed your company in the first place; and limit the salaries of every top executive; and scrap all your SUV's (even if they are your most profitable and popular product- case in point: the Jeep Cherokee): and build only “green cars”- or you get fired, or the bailout money is withheld and your company fails. Either way you do what Obama says, or you lose your job (and income as CEO). The CEO's of the top automakers have been neutered like Bo.
If you run a bank, you either loan to friends of Obama in politically correct or green industries; give out mortgages to low income applicants (the very fraud that bankrupted the entire banking and credit industries); and limit the salaries of every top executive- or you get fired, or bailout money is withheld and your bank fails. Powerful bankers have been neutered like Bo.
If you are a major real estate developer, you either build “green buildings” or partner with Obama's friends (or both)- or bailout money is withheld and you fail. Real Estate tycoons have been neutered
like Bo.
If you are CEO of a media company, like Jeffrey Immelt at GE (who owns NBC), or Jeffrey Zucker of NBC, you either show deference and bias to Obama's socialist agenda on your television network, or your bailout money is withheld and your television network fails (GE and NBC are currently bleeding losses). The kings of media have been neutered like Bo.
Ditto to the NY Times and liberal newspapers in big cities across the USA who are literally begging Obama for a newspaper bailout. To get the bailout, they'll have to write only supportive and positive editorials about Obama and his political agenda. To keep the bailout (without government pulling the rug out from under them), they'll have to do the same. The publishers will have to order their journalists to report on Obama's Weapons of Mass Distraction- his Tonight Show appearances and Town Hall meetings and March Madness picks and of course, his new puppy Bo. Anything but the truth- that with each Obama decision- the deficit grows bigger, the debt grows more unmanageable, the economy falls further into the abyss, and capitalism grows weaker by the minute.
Obama now controls freedom of the press. It has been widely reported that NBC CEO Jeffrey Zucker called a dinner for top CNBC executives and asked his on-air anchors and hosts to tone down their criticism of Obama. Worse, on MSNBC (also owned by GE and NBC), a radical leftist Hollywood celebrity (is there any other kind?) Janeane Garofalo slandered Tax Day Tea Party protestors by calling them all "white racist rednecks… who hate a black man (Obama) and don't understand a thing about taxes or the Boston Tea Party." In other words everyone at those Tea Parties (including me) is ignorant and hates Obama only because he is black. The MSNBC host interviewing her (Keith Olbermann) said nothing. Not a word of protest, debate, or disagreement. Can you imagine a fiscal conservative capitalist going on NBC or CNBC or MSNBC and calling Obama a racist who hates wealthy white businessmen, and not being viciously attacked, denounced and hounded into an apology or clarification by the host?
Yet anti-tax protestors can be slandered as racists with nary a word of disagreement by hosts at networks owned by GE- who happens to get billion dollar bailouts from Obama. Why? Because Obama now has GE (the parent company of NBC) squeezed by the private parts. The CEO is Obama's personal pet. Forget those wonderful images of the new White House puppy Bo. If the media was honest, they'd show Obama taking GE CEO Jefrrey Immelt and NBC CEO Zucker for a walk on the White House lawn.
Obama has now got Immelt housebroken like Bo. Can't you hear him talking to Jeffrey, “Be a good boy Jeffrey, support my agenda, or I will withhold your bailout money.” But if Jeffrey Immelt is a nice well-behaved puppy, he gets to sit at the feet of his master at the head table. Immelt was such a good puppy, Obama recently rewarded him with an appointment to his Economic Recovery Team. Recovery? Immelt has presided over the destruction of GE. What does he know about recovery? Since Immelt took over as CEO, GE's stock has dropped in value by as much as 80%. Only to someone with zero business experience like Obama, can Immelt look like an economic heavyweight. The guy is more like a paperweight. He has weighed down GE for years now.
But despite NBC's failing ratings and dramatically falling revenues, Immelt and Zucker serve their purpose. They do the dirty work of Obama like the nice little pets they are. Zucker hires radical leftist TV hosts like Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC (the host who nodded enthusiastically as all Tea Party protestors were called “racist rednecks”). Hosts like Maddow and Olbermann simply support every word uttered by Obama like “company men.” Zucker makes sure NBC Sports (yes I said sports) has “green nights” where they turn the lights off at the pregame football studio (while on the air). Yes, NBC hosts shows in the dark to show their support for the war against global warming. Zucker makes sure that the NBC Evening News reports (without bias, of course) positively on green technology. And guests on NBC-owned television networks are able to call all Tea Party tax protestors “ignorant racist rednecks” without nary a question or comment from the radical leftist hosts.
Yes sir, Obama owns 'em all.
The question I have is pretty simple: how come we're letting Obama abandon capitalism after only two bad years (1929 and 2008) in the last century? Yet we're putting government in charge, when government has never in history EVER had one single good year. Not one.
Government loses money every second of every day. Every department of government bleeds loses every year. Government has never heard of a profit. Government simply spends and loses trillions of dollars every year of its existence, then raises taxes next year, and somehow still manages to run a huge deficit. Government only survives because it asks capitalism and capitalists to bail out its losses, waste, corruption and inefficiency every single year (with the power of taxation). Name one year that government has ever succeeded in making a profit?
Government hasn't ever actually make one dollar. It just spends and taxes, then the following year always spends and taxes more (somehow running up an even bigger deficit). Can you imagine how good you or I could do if we had the power to tax? I could just wake up tomorrow and spend a trillion dollars, then demand a trillion dollars in taxes from businesses and individuals. And if I feel like spending $2 trillion next year, I could just raise the taxes by complaining that I don't have enough money. What a racket. The mafia has nothing on government. Bernie Madoff has nothing on government. It's one big ponzi scheme run by Obama, a guy who knows nothing about running even a bodega or a pet store.
Just remember before you willingly hand the keys over to Obama and big government, neither of them has ever in their entire lives earned a profit in business. Not once. Not one penny. Not one year. This is the guy now ordering CEO's around like hired help. This is the guy neutering CEO's like Bo the White House puppy. Didn't you hear Obama in the halls of NBC last week, “Hey Jeffrey, take out the trash.”
Wayne Allyn Root was the 2008 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate. His new book will be released by John Wiley & Sons this Spring entitled, “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution with God, Guns, Gambling & Tax Cuts.” The book is available for pre-sale at Amazon.com. For more of Wayne's views, commentaries, or to watch his many media interviews, please visit his web site at: www.ROOTforAmerica.com
