The President Orders. . .

[Gaspar]

Can President Obama come into my business and order me to provide my services for free?

Can he order me to reduce my prices?

He ordered banks to restructure mortgages almost a year ago and now most of those restructured mortgages are back in default.

Now he is ordering banks to suspend collection of mortgage payments.  Is he a king?

He no more has the right to do this than he has the right to walk into a store and order them to give him merchandise for free. 

He is saying "put the money in the bag and no one gets hurt."

Is this not troubling to anyone else?

[fotd]

He? You mean our government?

Get with being a true patriot. If you don't like it then leave....

[Gaspar]

He? You mean our government?

Get with being a true patriot. If you don't like it then leave....

It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government. – Thomas Paine

[fotd]

It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government. – Thomas Paine

Well then you agree....it's not "he" ...it's "we" the people.

[nathanm]

I see monetary incentives to the banks to do certain things, not an order.

[Gaspar]

I see monetary incentives to the banks to do certain things, not an order.

Then the banks will choose to do them, or choose not to.

[fotd]

I guess the fact that the teahadists complain about a socialist government yet want the government to rein in executive bonuses in the private sectors speaks to their inability to participate in rational discourse.

[nathanm]

Then the banks will choose to do them, or choose not to.

They probably will chose to make the modifications, if they really care about their bottom line. They'd probably be doing it already if they weren't, in the main, focused on this quarter's numbers rather than next year's numbers.

Speaking of banks, did anybody notice that Bank of America has been pulling a Bear Stearns and using repurchase agreements to move bad assets off the balance sheet for a few days around the close of each quarter?

[Gaspar]

I guess the fact that the teahadists complain about a socialist government yet want the government to rein in executive bonuses in the private sectors speaks to their inability to participate in rational discourse.

??

[fotd]

Just tying it all together....give me some more time. Having trouble with the term Teahadists?

[we vs us]

Can President Obama come into my business and order me to provide my services for free?

Can he order me to reduce my prices?

He ordered banks to restructure mortgages almost a year ago and now most of those restructured mortgages are back in default.

Now he is ordering banks to suspend collection of mortgage payments.  Is he a king?

He no more has the right to do this than he has the right to walk into a store and order them to give him merchandise for free. 

He is saying "put the money in the bag and no one gets hurt."

Is this not troubling to anyone else?

You know, I have no idea where you're getting your information or what particular snippets you've found to support this screed, but I can guarantee you that your reading of what's happening with our government -- both in this thread and in many of the other threads you've started in the last couple of weeks -- is getting more and more cracked.  You're building a particularly destructive thesis here that is based almost entirely in paranoia and a selective reading of the facts.  And while I'm all for freedom of speech, you're doing some crazy logical jujitsu that's frankly freaking me out.

Anyway.  It's your right to believe what you want to believe and to what degree, but the discourse is getting more and more insistent, and more and more whacked.  You're kinda sucking the oxygen out of this place.

[Red Arrow]

You're building a particularly destructive thesis here that is based almost entirely in paranoia and a selective reading of the facts. 

Time for one of my favorites:
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

[nathanm]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

I can understand why he might be concerned, as a business owner. I doubt his self-described "small business" has more than 50 employees, though, so I fail to see how getting a tax credit to help cover part of the cost of providing his employees health benefits yet not mandating he do so is anything but a helpful option he can choose to take advantage of or not.

Edited to add: I also don't know where he gets the idea that "most of [the restructured mortgages] are in default". More like "banks have been dragging their feet and few loans have been restructured."