Open Letter to Dear Leader

I heard about this on the radio this morning. A little poking around found the full text (and even Snopes says it is true).

Lou Pritchett, former VP at Procter and Gamble, wrote an open letter to The Messiah. He sent it to the New York Times, which of course refused to publish it. Pritchett is quite well known in business circles, having written the book 'Stop paddling and start rocking the boat". Follows is his letter in it's entirety. I interject some of my comments in parenthesis. Again, we do the job the NYT refuses to do.

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

By Lou Pritchett

Dear President Obama:

• You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
  
  
• You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you. (Where has the press been?)
  
  
• You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support. (Again, the press is missing in action)
  
  
• You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.
  
  
• You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll. (But now you think you can run GM, and Health Care? And you think a 'pay czar' to regulate the compensation of private business men is a good idea)
  
  
• You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core. (And you don't understand the nature of evil - that makes the military necessary)
  
  
• You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others. (And would you please hire a decent Protocol adviser so you will stop embarrassing yourself with other world leaders? And embarrassing us)
  
  
• You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail. (And you have adopted socialist policies to usher in that failure)
  
  
• You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad. (I wonder why you is not proud of America? We know your wife isn't)
  
  
• You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.
  
  
• You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one. (Please look at Canada and Britain for lessons in what does not work)
  
  
• You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves. (All the time trying to convince the gullible that it has something to do with reducing our dependence on foreign oil)
  
  
• You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world. (I suspect it is so you can exert more control over what is left)
  
  
• You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations. (Karl Marx, call your office)
  
  
• You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals. (Why would they? your goals are aligned with their goals)
  
  
• You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people. (You said you would - but you lied .. yes, I said LIED)
  
  
• You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient. (Why do you think we call you the Messiah?)
  
  
• You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do. (Nuf said)
  
  
• You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view. (Look for the Fairness Doctrine - by some other name)
  
  
• You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing. (Karl Marx, call your office)
  
  
• Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years. (Wonder if I will be able to keep my blog? Will I need a 'license'?)

Lou Pritchett

Finally

Finally someone has put action behind the widely held belief (at least among those that are paying attention) that the Federal Government's 'bailout' of the auto industry is, shall we say, questionable.

Back in 2008 Congress passed the TARP bill. (I doubt the Constitution allows this - but the Constitution does not seem to matter anymore in this country). This authorized the government to spend up to $700 billion to purchased 'troubled' assets from FINANCIAL institutions. The common understanding of 'financial' institutions would NOT include, for instance, General Motors. Later, the House passed a bill (which the Senate rejected) a bill to authorize money to bail out the car companies.

So, this raises the obvious point: Since congress tried to specifically authorize an auto bail out - they knew it had not already done so under TARP.

John Spratt, Chair of the House Budget committee said back in April:

“I would think that for a government officer to extend a warranty that will create a liability for the government, an act of law would be required,”

The 'warranty' of which he speaks is the government backing the auto warranties of GM. It creates a liability for the government. This is something congress must authorize - it in NOT in the President's authority to do so on his own.

Fast forward to now. The State of Indiana is challenging the use of government funds on the Chrysler bailout on both legal and/or Constitutional grounds. Finally!! The State is representing the interests of a couple of State Employee pension funds that held stakes in Chrysler. These 'working families' have gotten hosed in the deal. The secured creditors (bond holders) were treated unfairly.

If this suit succeeds - and it SHOULD - what happens? Well, first the Chrysler bail out will be derailed. This is fine - bankruptcy court awaits.

The more interesting question is the already completed GM fiasco. It the suit succeeds, it will lead to the de-facto conclusion the The Messiah acted ILLEGALLY in the GM situation. He will essentially be found to have violated the LAW. No, we do not hold out much hope that this will matter. But, it certainly will shine the light more directly on the inappropriate nature of His Highness' actions.

This interference in private business must be stopped. I hope this suit is part of the weaponry to do so. If we don't stop this, the days of a booming private sector economy are numbered. We will start to look like England back before Margaret Thatcher righted their ship.