"Government Greed is Good."

Wanting more of another persons earnings is okay as long as you cloak it in phrases about the public good.

Interesting points, but I think what Wall Street really received is a tax policy that rewards short term 'trading' over long term investing.

Dividend income is going to be taxed at 44.5%, if President Obama gets his way, while capital gains will only be taxed at half that. Wall Street makes it's money coming and going on the action, not on somebody holding a stock and getting paid a dividend.

So I don't disagree with the revolving door you describe....problem is that the Wall Street door and donors line up for the left more than they do those on the right.... and I am not surprised by that. They can afford the tax attorney's and like Warren Buffet be arguing with the IRS, regarding Berkshire, for taxes owed going back a decade while they pay themselves in ways that are taxed as capital gains....

The FDA was always a joke and has never been as good as private organizations at demanding quality control. Good companies are worried about their brand and have standards that far surpass those of the FDA - I've been in their plants on more than one occasion. The FDA is a shield for companies cutting corners and usually selling products back to government programs and not the consumer. Shame on the consumer if they don't read the label....

So Sajc, pretend you own a business and people in government through regulatory bodies or legislation are proposing new rules or a law that would put you out of business or make it very difficult to produce profits for your shareholders. Then you notice that these rules or law will benefit a competitor of yours or a new type of product or service at the expense of your business. What would you do?

That is the racket!!

Yes companies spend millions trying to influence government, but that is because we no longer have a limited government and we have a tax code that companies like GE are fiscally invested in protecting. The problem comes from DC, whether it is building a weapon the pentagon doesn't want or outlawing a light bulb so GE can get a greater return on a more expensive bulb that is built out of China. Politicians created the game and progressives cry about Exxon while green energy companies go bankrupt after receiving Tax Payer dollars. You want to get rid of the R&D tax breaks for oil companies then stop betting on green energy companies with my tax payer dollars, and stop subsidizing the production of products that compete with gazoline. Level playing field that the Progressives will never accept, because they want to classify what WE ALL exhale as a pollutant.

Actions speak louder than words and I notice that you have left out the Unions on your NASCAR analogy. Unions have been buying politicians and that doesn't include the rent a protestor game that they now employ.

Not true, the Tea Party movement predates the election of Obama and is focused on Government spending. If you read conservative columnists and publications you would find plenty of complaints about George Bush spending. Most defended him on Foreign Policy and Defense but he was not well liked due to all the spending.

The oil industry does not dictate terms, they provide a very highly demanded product that is regulated and taxed to death. Consumers dictate the use of their product, if there was a cheaper more efficient way to pack and ship our economy, the oil companies could not stop it from being adapted by consumers. But there is not. Government steps in and tries to make the product more expensive so that wind, solar, bio-diesel, ethanol don't look as expensive. The free market works and if Oil Companies were not threatened by DC and political robbery then the cost of oil would decline and their influence on DC would plummet. DC creates the need for companies to lobby by promoting legislation that will harm the interest of one company over another (Exxon vs. Solyndra for example) and then complains when the company being harmed lobbies to try and protect itself and it's shareholders.

Talk about a racket and people like you see it as the 'Evil Corporations' like the Alec Baldwin doll in Team America, instead of being angry at the politicians who created the game and the need for lobbyists in order to stay in power.

I think that the first lady has been giving a budget and is spending it to lecture us about our diets and that when combined with the Health Care debate is being used as a policy issue. She is also being used for fundraising, as she is more popular than the President and is carrying his message.

Politics is a contact sport and as soon as you start using a more popular First Lady to get your message out, then what she is saying becomes part of the cannon fodder.

Our debt woes are not solely to be blamed on Obama, but his stimulus plan added roughly $925 billion to the deficit according to recent CBO reports. And it did not deliver on anything it promised. It did save the UAW but that was not one of the items promised. In addition, the passage of both Dodd/Frank and the Health Care law are slowing economic recovery and in the case of the later was not deficit neutral.

Over regulation stifles competition by creating barriers to entry in the marketplace, the companies that benefit from the regulations then need to make sure that nothing changes in order to protect their market share and crony capitalism is born. The average individual income of a hybrid car owner is over $100,000 with some reports showing that the average household with a hybrid car earns over $175,000 but we are transferring to these folks a $10,000 dollar tax break on a purchase they can afford. Wealth transference from the -have not's- to the -have's- as long as the -have's- believe in AGW.

Okay Champ,

I own this thing called a car and in order for me to do my job I have to drive around in it. Their is is this stuff called Oil that is refined into gasoline that allows my Car to operate. Turning down the pipeline and restricting exploration makes the cost of this fungible product go up. Our entire economy is reliant upon oil for the delivery of goods and services so when oil prices go up, we are all harmed. Low cost oil is good for me, it is good for you and it is good for the economy. Oil like Tobacco and the companies that deliver them are not the problem.

The problem comes from DC regulators who at the behest of one party or the other over regulate and create the environment not for capitalism but for crony capitalism.

I wish that Waters was the only congressperson to push this idea but again, Champ, you can use yahoo to find that the DNC is filled with people who are upset that Exxon earns $.08 a gallon and pushed the nationlize them greedy oil men (I am sure they added white in there somewhere, Champ) idea.

I agree that crony capitalism blows - but their is no bigger example of how bad it is than can be found in the money used to support so called 'green' energy in the stimulus bill. You can use yahoo to figure that out as well - maybe Obama bundlers & bankrupt & green energy.

As a stock holder, via 401K's, of many companies in various industries, I am a huge fan of profits. You could even say that I love them as progressive will bankrupt Social Security long before I can collect a penny of my forced contributions.

I did play basketball with Champ Bailey a few times, Champ, but that is not my name...

I don't like being lectured by the wives of elected officials - Especially when her major push regarding diet benefits a company that gave her money in 2005-2006. It is interesting to me that we have a weight problem epidemic in the communities that are the most reliant on government assistance. Perhaps the eating guidelines have more to do with farmers and farming than nutrition? Which is also confusing when you hear that so many American children are going hungry while at the same time being overweight.

I do think that Obama is a Socialist - I am not sure if he leans to the Fascist or Communist strains, but if he gets a second term I am sure we will find out. The green movement and auto bailout harkens to 1940's fascism but the his behavior in office and rhetoric makes him seem like a fellow traveler.

I don't care what his religion is - it is 100% irrelevant. It would only be relevant if he was pushing policies that benefited one religion to the determent or destruction of another. His policies may be anti-religious towards all religions given that so many of them have rules against the use of Birth Control and Abortion including Islam.

Spent is an interesting choice as opposed to deficit....But Bush was a problem for fiscal conservatives like myself. He tried to be Democrat lite and I disliked it. You can't out promise the left on goodies. Either you get how the economy works and agree that supply side economics rises all boats or you don't. From a deficit standpoint government spending has not retracted and the sheer number of unemployed has hit the tax revenue stream causing huge deficits. If you believe, as I do, that DC is the problem and caused the housing bubble which created the derivative nightmare, then you likely would like to see government spending retract. But progressives are not down with closing government programs or shrinking government intrusion in our lives.

Not sure how you can ignore the implications that CRA had on the housing bubble. In addition, their have been documents where the Justice Department specifically threatened banks if they did not comply and lower their lending standards. The threat was increased overview and lawsuits combined with losing access to Fanny and Freddie....Then banks did what businesses do, they tried to spread the risk of loans that they would not have made in the 90's.

You can yahoo, I don't use google, the CRA stuff - not hard to find.

I think we did that with the Paul Ryan Budget - not that it was covered much in the Lame Stream Media -

Nobody voted for the First Lady, and it can be off putting when an unelected person spends with apparent disregard for the current economic situation. Things like taking a flight to Nantucket a couple hours before the President on Air Force One or a couple days before him to Hawaii should not be happening. Especially when the last budget from the President had a Trillion dollar plus deficit. Doesn't make them look very serious about dealing with spending in DC.

I doubt we would agree on how to fix the economy anyway but the Paul Ryan Budget would have been a good start.

That must be why the Keystone Pipeline was approved by the President.....oh wait it wasn't.... Exxon makes about $.08 on every gallon of gas they sell. Aspen Ski Company is making at least $475 for each lesson they sell (Likely more as each instructor can have up to 8 students), but Maxine Waters wants to nationalize oil production....

Who owns the government again? Got to love Crony capitalism. So again the CEO at Exxon would love to get that ROI and not have Congresspeople threaten to take over their industry. Hence he must be jealous.

Not a fan of the Obama's but your 4th to the last word is not helpful to those of us who would like to get them out of the Whitehouse. These are the types of posts that trolls in the progressive movement try to use to call conservatives racists and that they use to raise money for the cause.

Just saying.