Czar Takeovers

Ronald Reagan started it with one. Clinton increased it to three and the last president upped it to four. Our current President, however, has gone over the top with 16 and probably more to come. Of course I am talking about Czars. What started out innocently in Reagan’s day with a Drug Czar has become a dark and disturbing trend under this President. It seems that Obama is announcing new Czars all the time and no one seems to care. Yet you should. In fact you should be very very frightened.

One of the latest Czars to be announced is the Pay Czar. According to the Wall Street Journal “The Obama administration plans to appoint a "Special Master for Compensation" to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.” That doesn’t sound too ominous however later in the same article the WSJ reports that “The government is also pursuing a separate revamping of financial-sector rules that could change industry compensation practices more broadly. For instance, the Federal Reserve is considering rules that would curb banks' ability to pay employees in a way that would threaten the "safety and soundness" of the bank”. Excuse me? Who will decide if the pay is threatening? The government? And notice they now are targeting "employees" and not just the executives!

Forget what you hear on TV. Yes some of the large Banks pay exorbitant amounts to the top tier of executive but that is only a handful. Before all of this, Banks were actually known for handing out great sounding titles but paying low salaries. Now add in the new Pay Czar and his rules which will be applied to all of the employees, not just the very top tier. Can’t you just see some poor teller making less than $25,000 a year being told that she won’t get a raise this year because it would “threaten the safety and soundness of the bank”? No raise this year? Sorry, not management’s fault – blame it on the Pay Czar. Oh yeah, this is going to happen alright.

If the Pay Czar can regulate bank salaries, what industry is next? When will this unelected Czar with unlimited powers start to reach into your pocket and affect your salary? And if not the Pay Czar there is sure to be one of the other 15 Czars who will affect your life, your salary, your expenses and your family. Oh yes, and your computer with one of the latest Czars, the Cyber Czar although not sure how the Cyber Czar differs from the Technology Czar.

How soon before the Cyber/Technology Czars start to control the internet? Will there be a day that I am told that this blog “threatens the safety and soundness” of this country? That perhaps speaking out against the government will be a hate crime or maybe that will fall under the Homeland Security Czar.

Will the Health Czar reach into your home, your life, telling you what doctors you can see and what food you can eat? Hey don’t laugh. They are already doing the latter – controlling what you eat. They got rid of trans fat, whatever that was, and are now discussing taxing unhealthy foods such as soda and candy.

All of these Czars are working for your own good, of course. All because they don’t trust you, the public, to make the right decisions so the Czars will make the decision for you. What foods you can eat. What cars will be available for you to drive. What salary you should earn. Coming soon – what doctor you should see. And on and on and on.

In case you are curious, here is a list of the Czars announced to date. Just reading the titles of these Czars gives me a chill: Drug Czar, Energy and Environment Czar, Homeland Security Czar, Health Czar, Urban Affairs Czar, Economic Czar, Regulatory Czar, Technology Czar, Government Performance Czar, Border Czar, WMD Policy Czar, Intelligence Czar, Car Czar, Great Lakes Czar, Cyber Czar.

In total, these Czars control over $1 trillion. But no one voted for them. No one vetted them. Congress never approved them. They have broad powers. They can make a law, police the law, and determine penalties for not obeying their law. They are all three executive branches in one person, one Czar. And they serve only President Obama. Now are you frightened?