Everyone is so busy talking about AIG bonuses and Jay Leno appearances that they have somehow not noticed (or ignored) what could be one of the greatest threats our Constitution. The AIG bonuses, while handled poorly, are part of legally binding contracts that are costing us too much more in time and legal fees that it is worth to fight over something that's past. However, Congress has opened up a very fightening floodgate by intruding into businsess. Now Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) is trying to interfere in a business that the government owns no stake in.

On 3/19/09 Gov. Rendell gave a press conference asking the oil company Sunoco to rescind the layoffs they made of 750 workers. I know many people have no sympathy for oil companies and most will feel sorry for the workers that lost their jobs, but this is the government telling a company that it has no ownership stake in how to run their business. This is not a company that asked for a bailout. They are simply trying to remain competitive in their field which is becoming harder and harder due to increased enviromental standards (hidden taxes). During the first two quarters of 2008 the company's earnings fell short of expectations, but since (to quote Rendell) "earning in the second two quarters were robust" it seems that the governer feels he can tell the company what to do about its opperations. Gov. Rendell is interested more in political points it may scrore him to be against layoffs. He is not interestered in the company's future projections or the bleak future for the industry as a whole (especially when things like "Cap & Trade" are real possibilities). Though layoffs are always something that should be avoided they can sometime save the jobs of many others. Gov. Rendell may not have realized that by forcing Sunoco to rehire the laid off employees he could be forcing the company into a precarious finacial situation that might lead to things like more lay offs, refinery closures, relocation of facilities to other states/countries, corperate backrupcy or begging the government for some kind of bailout of its own.

The mainstream media has not picked up on this at all. As of this posting, the article I've found only 73 news articles in either small local papers or burried deep in the pages of more well known papers. Many of these are Op-Ed pieces that side with Gov. Rendell like the one in The Delaware County Daily Times by Phil Heron (http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2009/03/20/opi... So far the only legitimate article I've seen was one by Dwight Ott on The Philadelphia Inquirer's website (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20090320_... The only reason I found out about this is a friend of mine works in the oil business told me about it. It took a while for the implications to sink in otherwise I'd have posted this yesterday when I found out.

This is the type of thing Glenn is great at bringing to the attention of the public. I'd like to see him address it on his TV show.