Standing in the glow of electoral victory, before tens of thousands of cheering fans in Grant Park in Chicago on the night of November 4, 2008, the new president-elect, Barack Obama, told America: "Together ordinary people can do extraordinary things."
The junior senator from Illinois was referring to his election triumph and the millions of voters who made possible what was once highly improbable.
But that glib aphorism can be interpreted in ways both good and bad.
When the economic fate and liberty of millions of Americans is at stake, we don't want "ordinary people" deciding our future -- we want honesty, expertise and constitutional adherence.
And on the list of "extraordinary things" Obama promised in his dreamy hope/change campaign themes, he never mention an intention to nationalize America's banks. (But then, neither did the departing George Bush, who has gone along with this nationalization).
More and Bigger Socialism
But nationalization, (and much more), is exactly what a top economic adviser to the new Obama administration just unveiled; a plan which radically would restructure the global financial system, including dramatically expanded government control over banking and investments in the United States. Among other things, the plan recommends limiting the size of banks, setting guidelines for executive pay and regulating hedge funds, (and who gets loans and mortgages?).
The proposal offers 18 major recommendations that would insert government regulators into the board rooms of financial institutions as never before. The plan recommends vastly increased oversight of major banks, recommending the end of mega banks whose size some claim makes their failure potentially catastrophic to the global financial system.
If You Love the Federal Reserve...
These socialist recommendations are seen as building blocks for Obama plans because the lead author is Paul Volcker, ex-chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Carter and Reagan administrations, who will be a special Obama White House adviser. Volcker's role is to help mastermind what could ultimately be the biggest overhaul (and takeover) of the U.S. financial system in decades.
Coincidentally, a Friday New York Times article was headlined "Rescue of Banks Hints at Nationalization"
Last fall, as Federal Reserve and Bush Treasury Department officials rescued one financial institution after another with the billions a Democrat Congress authorized, they took great pains to avoid doing anything that smacked of nationalizing banks.
But now with two of the nation’s largest banks (Citibank, Bank of America) buckling under yet another round of huge losses, the incoming Obama administration and the Federal Reserve are suddenly dealing with banks that are "too big to fail."
In the case of Citigroup, the losses have become so large that they make it almost mathematically impossible for the government to inject enough capital without taking a majority stake or squeezing out existing shareholders.
Leftist Scavengers
Leftist Democrats are seizing this opportunity to crush free market principles as fast as they can. The new rules laid down by Mr. Obama’s economic advisers for the second half of the $700 billion bailout fund, as explained to Congress on Thursday, also call for increasing similar government control of major banking activities.
"We are down a path that this country has not seen since Andrew Jackson shut down the Second National Bank of the United States," said Gerard Cassidy, a banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets. "We're going to go back to a time when the government controlled the banking system."
Andrew Jackson Said "No"
On July l0, 1832, President Andrew Jackson, (a hero of the modern Democratic Party), sent a veto message to Congress. He returned unsigned with his objections a bill that extended the charter of the Second Bank of the United States, due to expire in 1836, for another fifteen years.
Jackson, a champion of the "common man," claimed the bank was unconstitutional, because Congress had no power to charter bank corporations; that it was dangerous to American liberty when the government gave a preferred status to private banks. He said its concentrated power gave it a "fearful influence" over citizens' lives and an unchecked sway over government, inviting corruption and oppression. (Sound familiar?)
The heart of the Jackson veto message was his attack on exclusivity and possible favoritism. Using the words "monopoly" and "privilege" repeatedly, Jackson laid out his theme: the Bank's charter gave its stockholders a promise of personal pelf and power denied to most other Americans. It made them "a privileged order, clothed both with great political power and enjoying immense pecuniary advantages from their connection with the Government."
Andrew Jackson -- meet Barack Obama.
Politicians Love to Control Government Cash
If these Obama bank plans become law, the inevitably ensuing scandals will make Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's "play for pay" look like kindergarten.
During my three years in the Maryland State Senate and eight years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I always viewed it as my duty to make sure that the people I represented got a fair shake under government spending programs, even though, as a conservative, I voted against many of these programs and most spending.
I routinely intervened to get roads paved, harbors and waterways dredged, Small Business Administration (SBA) loans approved for constituents, post offices modernized, Social Security and disability payments reviewed and awarded.
Bank Obama
Fast forward to the future day when Obama's regulatory bureaucrats will be telling banks where to put millions, to whom to make loans, who gets mortgages -- and who doesn't.
Already the likes of U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, long time champion of throwing billions at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, home of the subprimes, is demanding that President Obama spend the bailout billions and the "revival" trillions as Barney and other liberals want it spent -- and no doubt as they think will best get them re-elected.
Time to Bank Offshore
And that time may be running out.
There are still many solid offshore banks with whom we work and can recommend; banks that have not, and will not, betray their clients -- banks where Americans are still welcome.
We can also direct you to proper offshore investment, insurance and annuity professionals. All those prerogatives come instantly when you sign up for Sovereign Society membership
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