It's only a committee vote, it's only a...

...comittee vote. It's only...

Byron York in the DCExaminer:

(In) a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

...That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

...It applies to all employees of all companies involved, for as long as the government is invested. And it would not only apply going forward, but also retroactively to existing contracts and pay arrangements of institutions that have already received funds.

In addition, the bill gives Geithner the authority to decide what pay is "unreasonable" or "excessive." And it directs the Treasury Department to come up with a method to evaluate "the performance of the individual executive or employee to whom the payment relates."

The bill passed the Financial Services Committee last week, 38 to 22, on a nearly party-line vote.

Imagine the paperwork for evaluating every employee of a multi-billion dollar company. Imagine the lawsuits by people who have had their contracts retroactively canceled. Imagine the employees leaving in droves.

I like to imagine the next election, except that I think so many people are now net tax recipients rather than tax payers that the Democrats have a permanent lock.

I had a dream the other night: Iran developed a nuclear bomb, and used it on DC. Like the Gazans on September 9th, I ran into the street and cheered.

Sad thing was, it wasn't a nightmare.