Ignorance and arrogance: two characteristics that do not mix well. As a combination, it’s right up there with Saturday Night Specials and unlimited $1 beer night. You just know that something will go horribly wrong. And there can be added factors to make it even worse.
Add one attractive woman of questionable moral character and her large, highly jealous husband to a room full of men with Saturday Night Specials on unlimited $1 dollar beer night and it’s a certain tragedy and likely inspiration for at least three good country songs. Take the ignorance and arrogance combination and throw in political power and the presidency and you have tragedy on a completely different scale and perhaps a generation lost to stifling poverty and depression, though there will be a lot more country songs. Guess which scenario you get to vote on in 2012?
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| Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Retired Image via Wikipedia |
While I could list all of the scandals that occurred when government meddles in business, that’s not what this is about. It does not matter which party is in power, when politicians get involved in business and let businessmen get involved in politics, there will be a huge bill to pay. Hey, I’m looking at you, fellow taxpayer, because we will pay that massive tab.
When Angelo Mozilo got caught up in the subprime mortgage scandal, he had to pay a fine of $47.5 million and his company Countrywide Credit paid another $20 million. We got him, didn’t we? Forty-seven million five hundred-thousand dollars! Poor Angelo had to retire with his paltry estimated $550 million in wealth. He could have still bought Solyndra! And don’t we just wish he had.
But, guess who cleaned up his mess? It wasn’t any of the Friends of Angelo (FOA) who benefitted from special loan deals. It wasn’t Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines or Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) or Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) or Assistant Democratic House Leader James Clyburn (D-SC) or Bill Clinton’s “special” friend Jamie Gorlick who worked for Fannie Mae at the time, or former Secretary of Health and Human Services under Bill Clinton, Donna Shalala (Wasn’t she great in Planet of the Apes?), or Nancy’s boy Paul Pelosi, Jr. Nope, we paid for it.
But forget the scandals for a moment. It’s worse than that. It is the constant meddling. We knew there was a housing bubble, but Congress wanted more housing loans made to questionable creditors, so it happened. It happened just as the housing bubble burst. Barney Frank (D-Disgraced and Retiring), whose boyfriend got big bonuses at FannieMae, and Chris Dodd (D-Disgraced and Retired) could have backed off and let the market work, rather than putting banks in a bad position and people in unaffordable housing. Instead Congress destroyed the credit ratings of thousands of American families who lost the very houses they could have afforded when the prices would have dropped. But that’s only one example.
It’s also Maxine Waters (D-Pluto) threatening oil executives when told that gas prices will go up if oil supplies go down, “And guess what? This liberal will be all about socializing . . . uh . . . um . . . will be about basically taking over . . . um . . . and the government running all of your companies.” You can’t make this up! As an aside, if you’re wondering why I have Waters representing Pluto, it’s only because we don’t have a planet named Goofy.
Pay attention the next time President Obama talks about business. He thinks it’s all luck, calling the Solyndra debacle a “good bet.” Yes, it’s a good bet for him because he’s playing with our money! For the taxpayers it was like playing three-card Monte with the guy on the corner.
Just remember this, if your 10-year old child has a lemonade stand, then she now has more lifetime business experience than President Barack Obama. Now, stop weeping and go see if your neighbor is registered to vote.
by Ken Carroll
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