Replies

“Why not.

If in any way the company or executives have benefitted from government actions, waivers of immigration limits, loans, bailouts, etc., etc., that are not readily available to every other business, then the company has opened itself up to greater government regulation and control.”

That’s only true because people like you believe it. Government influence follows from government money, it’s true. But not by right. The state likes to expand, through whatever means. We don’t have to condone it, especially on such tenuous grounds as “Well, they left themselves open to it.”

The state touches in some way every part of the economy, and people more or less accept it, depending upon how much it benefits them. However, their silent acceptance of some influence does not set a precedent for total control. At least not in my opinion.

This is how tyranny grows: little by little. No one complains when the government steps in to fix one thing. If they can meddle in that thing, why not the thing next to it, and the thing next to that, and the thing next to that? What, you’re going to complain about that little thing? You didn’t complain fifty years ago, why the sudden quandry? It’s too late.

There simply is no reason for the federal government to restrict executive pay, whether or not “the people” have a financial stake in the company’s performance. Why? First of all, the portion of taxpayer money that could possibly be considered as going toward executive pay is so miniscule relative to the debt that it’s laughable to pretend it makes a difference. Second of all, the idea that just because the government’s money is invested in the company that somehow the money is special and cannot be used for unproductive ends is ridiculous.

The truth is, most of the government’s money will go toward unproductive ends. We knew beforehand that the companies we invested in were losing money. That was the very reason we gave them our money. Problem is, unproductive companies don’t become productive when the government touches them with its magic wand. Some of them will turn around, others won’t. The only certainty is none of them will turn a profit because the state was wise enough to move a little bit of money from here to there.