Big Dogs Weblog

Obama Bites The Hand That Feeds Him

Feb 5, 2009 Political 5 Comments

Though Democrats like to portray the the Republican party as the party of rich people the left has quite a number of wealthy folks and they write big checks for Democrats. In the last election cycle Barack Obama received a heck of a lot more money from Wall Street than did John McCain and Democrats in general fared better than Republicans.

Today Barack Obama bit the hand that feeds him by limiting the salary of executives to half a million dollars if their companies received bailout money. I certainly understand the sentiment but there are issues here that I am having some trouble with.

I believe that if this is going to be a condition then it should have been spelled out in the bill when it was signed. It could have easily stated that the CEO of any company that receives bailout money will have his salary reduced to [whatever number] by whatever date. Doing it after the fact just looks like bad practice. Can Obama add stipulations like this?

Another thing I have a problem with is, how can the president or any other government official regulate the salary of employees in a private business? What part of the Constitution gives Obama the legal authority to decide what a person in a private company can make? I understand that the government is providing them bailout money but it is also my understanding that the money is a loan to the companies. As I stated, if it was not spelled out as a precondition, how can he add it now? Isn’t that a legislative function?

The limit on executive salary might also hurt New York. They are complaining that many good money managers might leave for better jobs if their salaries are cut per Obama’s orders. The first thing to ask is, if these are such good money managers why did their companies need bailouts? The second thing is, where are they going to get a better job in this economy, especially in the financial market?

One way this might actually hurt New York is the drastic drop in income tax revenues. A CEO making 10 or 15 million dollars a year certainly pays a lot more in taxes than one who makes half a million. The amount of tax revenue to New York might drop quite a bit.

I am not in favor of CEOs getting huge paychecks when they are the ones who ran their companies into the ground. However, I am in favor of doing things ethically and fairly. That means ensuring that Obama has the authority to do this and if he does not then getting it done correctly before imposing it. Also, bailout money cannot be forced on any institution. The rule must be, if they don’t want it then they cannot be forced to take it.

I have no sympathy for any of the CEOs and I was not in favor of any bailout/stimulus that has come along. I feel the companies should succeed or fail on their own merits and not be saved on the back of the taxpayer. The rules about salary and the bailout money are nothing more than huge government intrusion.

Government intrusion is what caused this mess in the first place.

Obama can rail about these people and their excessive salaries but I am willing to bet they paid their taxes…

I also bet the cap on salary will be challenged in court and I think Obama will lose the case.

Anyone taking bets on whether he will get as much money from them when he runs for reelection.?

Sources:
WCBSTV

Feedburner and WordPress 2.5.1

Apr 30, 2008 General 7 Comments

If you upgraded to WordPress 2.5.1 and you use Feedburner there is a possibility that your feeds are no longer working. There is a problem with two of the files and the fix is located here.

After you make the corrections in the two files upgrade your blog to update the database and then ping Feedburner and all should work fine.

To get directly to the files go here.

Biting the Hand that Feeds Them

Dec 21, 2006 Political Comments Off on Biting the Hand that Feeds Them

The DNC has put off a decision as to where it will host its next convention. The two cities in contention are New York and Denver. The decision to delay is no big deal and with the Christmas season it makes sense. However, one of the reasons that there is a delay is because of some labor issues in Denver. Seems that local unions are not playing nice with regard to their friends in the DNC:

Denver, which has mounted an enthusiastic campaign to win the convention, has struggled with labor issues, fundraising and logistical challenges such as finding sufficient hotel rooms. Democrats thought Denver had resolved some of its labor problems when Colorado’s AFL-CIO approved a resolution last month in support of Denver’s convention bid.

But problems suddenly emerged this week when Jim Taylor, head of city’s influential stagehand union, refused to sign an agreement promising not to strike if the convention came to Denver. Breitbart

The Democratic Party is a big supporter of unions and unions overwhelmingly back Democratic candidates so it is interesting that labor unions in Denver are playing hardball in a fashion that might remove their city from the competition. It would seem that the union would be much more accommodating considering the way they are courted and provided for by the Democrats.

It goes to show that labor unions are a dying breed and they will do anything to gain an upper hand including biting the hand that feeds them.

Bite The Hand That Feeds

Apr 18, 2006 Uncategorized Comments Off on Bite The Hand That Feeds

One of the problems with the US is that we allow people to come here and learn, work, and do just about anything. Why is this a problem? Because many of those who come here and benefit from our generosity then tun around and stick a knife in our backs. There is a story today about an Indian student who is here getting an education. This ungrateful jerk wrote in a chat room that he wanted to kill George and Laura Bush, VP Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He also urged readers to bomb the US and rape American and British women. His attorney says this is a First Amendment issue and that his client, Vikram Buddhi, never intended to carry out the threats. Doesn’t that make you feel better? The attorney is also concerned his client will miss time from school:

Since this is a very busy time for college students, being immersed in studying for their upcoming finals, Buddhi’s attorney John Martin said he hopes his client will be released from jail Wednesday following his detention hearing so he can return to studying.

God forbid we should keep a terrorist in training from going back to school. I think this person should be tried immediately and sent to jail if convicted. If we can not put him on trial we need to revoke his student visa and send him back to his back assward country.

This kind of crap irritates the hell out of me. Our MSM refuses to print pictures of Mohammad the pedophile because it might upset some “peaceful” radical Islamic fundamentalists but this guy is supposed to be allowed to make threats and we are supposed to just let him do it. If he never intended to carry out the threats he certainly encouraged others to do so. If just one nut case reads the message and follows through all hell could break loose. Our stupidity when it comes to openness allowed the 9/11 terrorists to come here and train to fly. It allows millions of ILLEGALS to cross the border and then demonstrate because they “have rights, and it allows former Taliban idiots to come here and attend college. It even allows terrorist sympathizers to drive rented SUVs into crowds of college students. This BS is getting old and it is high time we did something about it. We can start by bringing the full wrath of the judicial system down on this terrorist in training.

If they let this guy go there is no hope.

Source Post-Tribune

[tags]terrorist, threats, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, chat room, Islam, Mohammad, pedophile[/tags]

Feeding Them Is Torture

Mar 3, 2006 Political Comments Off on Feeding Them Is Torture

The US is force feeding terrorists at Club Gitmo who are on hunger strikes. In any instance I would say that if they want to starve to death, let them. However, given the current state of liberalism the US must force feed these guys. If they starve themselves to death the US will be blamed for their deaths. The liberals will claim the US allowed these terrorists to starve to death and accuse the Bush Administration of murder.

So instead of allowing these terrorists to die, as they should, we force feed them to keep them alive. This has been determined to be an act of torture. If we don’t feed them, it is torture, if they die, it is torture, if they are force fed it is torture. As I said, if they starved themselves to death it would not bother me a bit but given that Bush will get blamed for the deaths it is necessary to force them to eat. If those who call this torture will sign documents declaring that anyone who self inflicts their death then the US will not be responsible then perhaps we can let them die.

In the future there will be terrorists who starve themselves by refusing food but will claim the government refused to give them food. At least with forced feeding they can not make that claim.

Source: BBC News