We have our ‘Eva Peron’ in the Doe-eyed treatment the press is giving Michelle Obama at every turn. And, as this excellent article by Roger Kimball points out, Barack’s actions with Chrysler is pretty indistinguishable from Juan Peron’s ‘gangster government’ tendancies:
Like the Argentinian strong man, Obama muscled the owners and creditors out of a productive private company and gave it to union leaders, who will then fill his campaign coffers in gratitude for his generosity.
And what about the “secured” bondholders — the investors who accepted lower returns in exchange for the security of knowing they would be first in line to be paid back if something bad happened? The last time I checked, they were offered 29 cents on the dollar.
According to Thomas Lauria, the lawyer representing the secured creditors, the President’s car czar, Steve Rattner, then went into Godfather mode, threatening to sick the IRS and SEC on those firms holding Chrysler debt that did not want to accept the government’s offer.
You see, bankruptcy court would have been ‘inconvenient’ to the unions, so Obama is scrapping our judicial branch in favor of raw dictatorial power. No wonder so many of the banks are scrambling to repay TARP monet… and the government is iether flat out refusing to accept repayment, or setting very high ‘early repayment’ penalties.
Change you can believe in; free enterprise controlled from the White House.
Filed under: Politics
