PrintAugust 1, 2010
Special Money for Special Interests
Here is an excerpt from The Speech That Made The One a candidate for president:
There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America.
Here is the latest on yet another super-sized fund to reward political allies of the Democratic Party-the so-called 30 billion dollar "Small Business Lending Fund" from the Washington Examiner editorial board:
The fund would allow the Treasury Department to use $30 billion in taxpayer dollars to throw into community banks -- those with less than $10 billion in total assets. But this money comes with strings attached. Stephen Spruiell of National Review notes that each recipient bank applying for funds would be required to submit a small-business lending plan to "describe how the applicant's business strategy and operating goals will allow it to address the needs of small businesses in the areas it serves, as well as a plan to provide linguistically and culturally appropriate outreach, where appropriate." Linguistically and culturally appropriate? Treasury would also have to prioritize banks that serve "small businesses that are minority-, veteran-, and women-owned and that also serve low- and moderate-income, minority, and other underserved or rural communities." In other words, political factors replace creditworthiness in deciding who gets loans.
This, of course, was the type of policy that helped bring about the financial and economic crisis that is still afflicting America.
It gets worse. I wrote about this new program when it first started to emerge as a gleam in the eyes of the Obama team and its allies in Congress "Obama, the Chicago Boys, and their 30 billion slush fund."
Officials in the administration told TARP Inspector General, Neil Barofsky -- who has been very good at monitoring taxpayer dollars (he recently reported that the auto companies bailout favored and rewarded minority and women owned dealerships, regardless of the economics -- that they will strip him and his office of oversight of this new 30 billion dollar program. Barofsky objected, noting the fraud potential of this 30 billion dollar program.
Thirty billion dollars of more taxpayer money will be spent in a way that favors particular groups in America at the expense of other groups -- among them, taxpayers. And pundits wonder why many Americans have soured on this president and his allies in Congress.
This joins ObamaCare, Financial Reform, and a myriad of other billion dollar boondoggles designed to favor some over all -- and that belie Barack Obama's campaign message of inclusiveness and the promise of a post-racial Presidency.
