What has happened to Free Enterprise in America? Are these telling signs of what's to come?

Comments made by the Democratic senator from Michigan 1/28/2008 I think are a lead in of what is happening to our free enterprise and perhaps way of life. 

Re:  "Senator Carl Levin of Michigan raised a stink. Levin, who represents many of the nation's automakers, blasted the idea: "To permit Citigroup to purchase a plush plane - foreign-built no less - while domestic auto companies are being required to sell off their jets is a ridiculous double standard," Levin said. Well put, Senator Levin!"

Hey, when did Senator Levin get voted to the Citigroup board of directors? Most probably when the Citigroup board of directors decided that they were inept and didn't know how to manage and lead their company.

There are a whole host of problems with this bailout strategy - but, fundamentally if you are a publicly held company and come to the federal government for a handout, the government now owns you.  It's that simple based on Levin's comments.

And, regardless of how much bailout money the company gets; $45 or $45 billion, the federal government now has a much greater voice in the company's policies, planning, and direction than someone with voting stock or a capital position. Haven't we seen this happen before?

If you need a clearer picture of federal (mis)management and what happens when the federal government intervenes in business enterprise, look at the public school system and the condition and quality of our kid's education.  Or look at what has happened to the cost and quality of health care once the federal government inserted its self in managing coverage and delivery. Can we afford for the federal government to usurp the responsibilities and accountability of the board of directors and company managers?

We are seeing the trend toward nationalizing (federalizing) anything that is on the brink of failure regardless of its long term value or usefulness. Propping up companies that would and should otherwise go under in the name of "they are just too big to fail; it would be devastating to our economy" is absolutely shortsighted. Perhaps there would be a period of "devastation" for the short run and for those intimately involved, but, if we use more than a 90 day planning horizon to measure the impact, we would never consider such foolishness.

And what's to stop the federal government at just the taking over the weak?  Though there is blood in the water and the sharks are involved in the feeding frenzy, no industry is safe.  The congress has more than hinted they don't like the way Big Oil operates and profits; Rep Maxine Waters has as much as said she was all for nationalizing the industry.  Where does that put investors and risk capital if they don't have confidence in long term earning potential? Who's next: the airlines, the utilities?

Somewhere along the way we lost the bubble on the fact that there is a business cycle and that its there for a reason: Correction!!  We see the real estate market go completely crazy for several years as investors looked for places to put their money from the previous business cycle - the dot com bust of 2001. But, this is the way new developments happen and we look for and invest in new opportunities.  

At some point, every industry needs to correct itself.  But when the Fed and federal government step in to help soften the blow, through inflation and interest adjustments there are always side effects that are usually worse than if the correction had been allowed to play itself out.

If the markets don't have a natural, undaunted path to off-load excess infrastructure, inefficient labor practices and standards, and just failed businesses in general then we will cease to have the huge leaps we've enjoyed in technology and life style since the beginning of the industrial and technological revolution.

This bailout is an absolutely dangerous precedence and if not arrested and quickly, it will be our demise as a democratic republic with a free market society!

The questions for today are: Where does this end? And what is to stop the federal government from carte blanche taking over public or private companies or even industries that they don't believe are being operated properly, efficiently, socially sound, etc?

If we don't heed these warnings we will be reduced to a 3rd world country. This is not a maybe -- this is a certainty.  We have fought wars to push back the very hordes that laid in wait for our economic destruction and we are now allowing the infiltration to happen without a bullet being fired. And, the people like Senator Levin, with their political or social motives, are all too happy to take a seat on the board of directors of this scourge!