Government Knows Best

Laid off workers at a Chicago window manufacturer have made national news for their protest, demanding severance and vacation pay. Politicians and would be castrators have come out of the woodwork to show their support for the workers, who have come to symbolize the unemployed. The company shut its doors after losing its line of credit with the Bank of America.

Governor Blagojevich has decreed that the state of Illinois will not do business with the Bank of America until they loan the company enough money to pay for severance and vacation pay, arguing that the $25 million that BOA receieved in the bailout is meant to be doled out to companies that are no longer solvent.

If the company is contractually obligated to pay severance, then it should do so. However, this is in no way the bank's problem. Why on earth would they loan their depositors' money to companies that can't pay it back? If the company has to declare bankruptcy, so be it. Then the courts figure out how to reorganize the company or distribute its assets to its creditors, including, in this case, its employees.

This is what happens when liberals meddle in business. Soon-to-be-convicted-felon Blogojevich should not be telling Bank of America how to run its business. If the state can save money by doing business with BOA, he has no right to forfeit those savings to score political points. This is exactly the kind of thinking that led to the financial crisis - liberal politicians determining who should get loans. Unfortunately this idea that the government knows best how to run businesses will soon be coming to Detroit in a big way.

Is Imus Worse than Rosie?

I haven't gotten too hung up on the Don Imus firing (he made an ugly, possibly racist comment about the Rutgers women's basketball team, if you've been living in a cave), as I've never listened to him. However, it does present the hypocrisy of the left, as Tom DeLay writes here. "The message of the ongoing Imus scandal is simple: verbal offenses against anyone other than conservatives or Christians or Jews, will be treated as crimes, and Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the judge and jury," he writes. Jesse Jackson can slur Jews by calling New York "Hymietown" and Al Sharpton can be convicted of libel for making up a story about a white assistant district attorney raping a black woman, but it's quickly forgotten. And how about their treatment of the Duke lacrosse players, for which they refuse to apologize? But the most egregious example today, as DeLay argues, is Rosie O'Donnell. On the TV show "The View," Rosie accuses President Bush of orchestrating the 9/11 attacks and has compared fundamentalist Christians to the Islamic terrorists. What she has done is far more offensive to far more people than what Don Imus did. Christians should be deeply offended by her comments. She should be fired and I agree with DeLay, conservatives need to come together to pressure ABC to fire her. Here is a list of companies/products that sponsor "The View."