Czars Gone Wild
Another day, another oversight entity…or two.
Yesterday, President Obama rolled out his much anticipated proposal to overhaul the financial regulatory system. As usual, the actual plan bore little resemblance to the pre-announcement hype. Instead of streamlining and simplifying, it up-sizes and complicates. Littered amongst Obama’s hodgepodge of indiscriminate and ill-conceived measures are a new Consumer Protection Agency and Systemic Risk Council. So, an already flagrantly complex structure may become that much more untenable with the potential adoption of two more regulatory bodies.
Is there anything more illustrative of Obama’s government-first philosophy than his affinity for appointing Czars, councils, oversight boards, etc.? To date, there are twenty-five or so. Imagine if he spent half the time focused on unlocking the creative and productive capacity of our capitalist system as he does on inflicting us with bigger and bigger government. Maybe we still wouldn't be hemorrhaging jobs and dealing with an economic contraction months after all other such contractions since WWII turned positive.
Who but politicians and academics believe that employing dozens of Czars is a recipe for success? It wreaks of randomness, not to mention a quixotic faith in government over markets. Why would one intentionally create such overlap and confusion? Would any responsible business pursue a similar course to achieve its objectives? Doubtful.
Consider for a moment the absurdity. We have an Energy Czar and a Secretary of Energy. There's a Drug Czar and a Secretary of Health and Human Services, not to mention a Surgeon General. We've got a Bank Bailout Czar and a Treasury Secretary and Chairperson of the FDIC. How about a Border Czar to go along with the Secretary of Homeland Security? We've also got Czars for the Middle East, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan? Guess Hillary Clinton and the whole State Department can hit the beach this summer. Those are but a few examples of our government run amok.
How far can we be from a Czar Czar? Don’t all those Czars need somebody to watch over them?
Obama had better be careful, or he may end up being remembered as Barack the Terrible.
Yesterday, President Obama rolled out his much anticipated proposal to overhaul the financial regulatory system. As usual, the actual plan bore little resemblance to the pre-announcement hype. Instead of streamlining and simplifying, it up-sizes and complicates. Littered amongst Obama’s hodgepodge of indiscriminate and ill-conceived measures are a new Consumer Protection Agency and Systemic Risk Council. So, an already flagrantly complex structure may become that much more untenable with the potential adoption of two more regulatory bodies.
Is there anything more illustrative of Obama’s government-first philosophy than his affinity for appointing Czars, councils, oversight boards, etc.? To date, there are twenty-five or so. Imagine if he spent half the time focused on unlocking the creative and productive capacity of our capitalist system as he does on inflicting us with bigger and bigger government. Maybe we still wouldn't be hemorrhaging jobs and dealing with an economic contraction months after all other such contractions since WWII turned positive.
Who but politicians and academics believe that employing dozens of Czars is a recipe for success? It wreaks of randomness, not to mention a quixotic faith in government over markets. Why would one intentionally create such overlap and confusion? Would any responsible business pursue a similar course to achieve its objectives? Doubtful.
Consider for a moment the absurdity. We have an Energy Czar and a Secretary of Energy. There's a Drug Czar and a Secretary of Health and Human Services, not to mention a Surgeon General. We've got a Bank Bailout Czar and a Treasury Secretary and Chairperson of the FDIC. How about a Border Czar to go along with the Secretary of Homeland Security? We've also got Czars for the Middle East, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan? Guess Hillary Clinton and the whole State Department can hit the beach this summer. Those are but a few examples of our government run amok.
How far can we be from a Czar Czar? Don’t all those Czars need somebody to watch over them?
Obama had better be careful, or he may end up being remembered as Barack the Terrible.
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