Even with an overwhelming majority in both the House and Senate, Obama has faced some difficult experiences in his first month when trying to push through his ideology and policy decisions. Yes, the majority of what he wants has come to pass, but not without spending a considerable amount of his theoretical and generally worthless, political capital. There have been disastrous cabinet appointee failures and there have been unfavorable responses to some of his proposed stimulus bill policies among many other minor disturbances.

I distinctly remember the night Obama invoked his awe inspiring acceptance speech on the night of our general election. I also distinctly remember him telling the millions of Americans who did not vote for him how he was going to be their President too. He told us that he was going to walk down the aisle of bi-partisanship. He told us he was going to bring change to Washington. He told us he was going to work for the people to make our nation what it once was. Little more than 30 days into his Presidency, is he keeping his promises he made that night? Is he keeping the promises he made on the campaign trail?

Well, number one, Obama brought no change to Washington as he did nothing more than appoint Washington insiders to every post he has been given a chance to fill. He has mined the standby Democratic powers that be to the fullest. Where is the new blood? Where is the “Yes we can” ideology? Why do we have to sit back and watch the same politicians who have been running our government for generations continue their abuse of power over the American citizen? Why… when the single most important aspect of Obama’s campaign was change?

If I had voted for Obama, I would be sitting pretty uncomfortable right now because the man I would have voted for is not the man sitting in the Oval Office at this point in time. Sure, he has another 47 months to change how we perceive him, but hey, there is something to first impressions… I’ve got some numbers from the latest polls that show all is not well with the savior of the free world’s first month.

In only 30 days, Obama’s approval rating has dropped by nearly 10 percentage points. Two out of three Americans currently approve of how Obama is doing. That is still an extremely high number, but a nine percent drop in one month should be extremely worrisome for Obama supporters. Where did the drop come from? There are three segments polled, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. Of course the Republican vote dropped the most from 50 percent to a drastically reduced 31 percent. Hey, even half of the Republican crowd gave Obama the benefit of the doubt… only to be shown his true colors in less than one month how the liberal Obama would govern our country.

The other two segments dropped as follows: Independents (the ones who actually voted Obama into office) dropped to 61 from 67 percent. Democrats basically held steadfast to their banker, err, I mean President with 92 percent, slightly down from 96 percent. If I were a Democrat, I would be pretty happy with what has transpired during the first month because by selling my vote, I now have more federal money coming my way that I haven’t worked for at the expense of those who do. I’ve also got more tax rebates coming my way that I don’t deserve because I didn’t pay anything in taxes during the year. It’s a great system at this juncture for a Democrat and the Democratic voting bloc.

First month jitters or the real Obama? Which one is it? My vote is that it’s the real Obama. The one with puppet strings tied to massive bank accounts of unknown campaign contributors. He is the one with ultra liberal policies who lied to the American public about his stance regarding bi-partisanship. As my bank account, 401k, home value, and confidence shrinks, there are others in the country receiving the benefits of selling their vote by sharing the shrinking wealth of those who work and earn their living. The first month jitters are costing millions of Americans jobs, money, and their future.

Why do we do this? Whether your faith tells you not to judge others or not, we all are judging one another. We can pick the most miniscule aspect out of someone’s life and simply label them a failure because of their abject failing to be perfect in their existence. The majority of us are harsh critics of one another but at the same time, ultimate forgivers when it comes to our own failings. We rationalize away our own problems and mistakes. It must have been the circumstances or bad luck or some other cosmic crossroads that created our own error in judgment or action.

Of course the other people in our world can’t possibly have that sort of leniency. They must be responsible for every last word spoken and action taken. There are no “do overs” and no “reasons” and there are no “mistakes” when it comes to the people we judge in our lives. As I said earlier, I often fall into the trap of judging others… all under the assumption that I must be the perfect example they are judged against. How wrong is that?

Today, for whatever reason, I was thinking about someone who I had judged in my life and I thought to myself, why is that ok when I am no better? No, I didn’t make the same mistakes, but were the mistakes made by that person any worse than mine? We all like to put grades on everything in our lives… it helps us determine priority and importance. But, if I’m not supposed to judge, then how can I place a grade on their mistake? All I can do is take care of myself and work on my own mistakes.

Take a few minutes and look at your last few days. Can you honestly say that you haven’t judged another person in that timeframe? I can’t. While I know that I’m not supposed to judge, I still manage to do it because I’m not perfect. My goal is to limit the times I do while going forward so that eventually, judging others becomes as rare as humanly possible.

The fallout from judging others can damage or even destroy existing relationships. It can keep relationships from ever being formed. The obstacles we create by judging others create an unfair roadblock for others to climb over. Rarely do we judge ourselves so we unconsciously believe ourselves to be perfect… or a shade of perfect… or a rational version of perfection…

Do you think it’s fair if the people in your life judged you and put these obstacles in front of your relationship? You do it, so you can bet they do it also. Maybe that’s why relationships are so hard to keep and nurture these days… People are so judgmental of everyone in their lives that forgiveness rarely enters the equation. We have determined that nobody fits our model of perfection and we have simply determined that no one deserves to be in our innermost trusted circle.

Rather than judge the people you know, and even those you do not, try turning the idea upside down. Apply the standards you have unjustly placed on others to yourself. Place yourself within the constraints of perfection and see how well you stack up. My guess is you will be shocked by your performance if you’re honest… we aren’t perfect and never will be. Why should we apply an unachievable standard to those around us if we can’t ever achieve the standard? Stop judging and start forgiving, that’s what I plan on doing more of. I don’t want to be judged by others so why should I judge them?

How easy is it to simply focus on the perceived failings of your competitors and do nothing to differentiate yourself other than to run down the scorecard of these failures? It’s very easy. How easy is it to focus on the shortcomings of your co-workers and use them to promote your own self up the ladder? Again, it’s very easy. My personal opinion on the people and businesses using this copout way of “attracting” attention is that they are showing you their true colors, their lack of character depth, and their lack of quality product or ability.

If you have nothing to differentiate yourself other than to constantly run other people down in an effort to make you or your product appear better, do you have anything better to offer in reality? Shouldn’t your product speak for itself? Shouldn’t your work ethic and character makeup speak for your ability? Shouldn’t you focus on what makes you better and not what makes the others worse? The reason why you see more and more people and businesses take this line of product differentiation is because they lack the cognitive ability to promote their own product ethically with integrity. Of course, that is assuming their product is at minimum, equal to their competitors.

You don’t have to be a marketing major or industry analyst to differentiate your product in a manner that is both ethical and positive. But, it does take more effort than constantly running your mouth about the weaknesses of your opposition. Your consumers, and or coworkers, are not oblivious to the real world, no matter how inept you believe them to be. People do not need to be fed their information as if they cannot form a rational opinion on their own. If you believe they need reinforcement in the manner of spouting negatives about your competition, then your product doesn’t have the natural distinction to win their attention on its own.

It’s not as simple as a “build it and they will come” philosophy, but it is as simple that if you build a product that is inherently better than the competitor, you can differentiate yourself in a positive and ethical manner. Simplistic minds and questionable character development allows a fertile ground for these negative differentiators to grow and exist.

I’ve personally seen more and more of this in my life from individuals and businesses. It turns me off from having a relationship with either of them. If they believe that I need a push to choose them over their competitor, they should show me the positives of their product. If all they can focus upon is a negative laundry list of their competitors, it tells me they don’t have a product I want.

People and businesses choose the easy way out in our lives more often than not. They choose not to focus upon creating their own positive image. They are too worried about getting ahead this instant. Their only traction in society is to belittle and publicly damage those who are “in their way.” Do you want to associate with these types of people or businesses? If they are so superficial and lacking in character, how much importance do you think you are to them? Are you nothing more than a contributor to their bottom line as long as you “agree” with their sentiments? Are you nothing more than a friend when you “agree” with their laundry lists?

I choose to deal with people and businesses of real character. For those who lack this capability, I refuse to augment their financial sheets and I refuse to incorporate them into my life. Focus on differentiating yourself in a positive manner. Yes, it takes more effort, but in the end, it makes you stand out above your competitors more than any list of failings they may have. Build some character, be positive, because guess what, you’re only the flavor of the month if all you have to win people over is what’s wrong with everyone else. What’s right with you? My guess is not a whole lot. Have some class and integrity… it goes a long way.

I take things seriously, I am a competitive person. If I commit to doing something, I have chosen to enter into a competition with myself at the very basic level. I will continue down the path even if futility is certain. Quitting to me is an abject failure and should be averted at all costs. I believe there is always one last “Hail Mary” in our quiver of life’s arrows. Are you similar to me or is your standard of commitment a variable in an equation that changes by the day, hour, or even minute?

Personally, I know people who fall into each category. I know people who are like me… steadfast in their pursuit of their commitment. I know people who are the complete opposite of me… wishy-washy individuals who throw around the term commitment like yesterday’s worn socks. I know a whole gamut of people in between… that’s where most people are these days. Who is worse, the people who are wishy-washy or the in between commitment makers?

Being that I’m the polar opposite of the wishy-washy person, you may think I believe they are the worst ones… you would be wrong. The fact of the matter is that with the wishy-washy people, you know they will not honor their commitment and if they do, you should view it as a miraculous event… a true bonus in life. The middle of the road commitment makers are the most disturbing group of people to be around. You never know what you’re going to get. Are you going to get the guy who means what he says this time or not? Can you depend on him over the long term or is he just into making commitments for the short term? Or worse yet, is he the person that sometimes shows up and sometimes doesn’t?

Who makes you angrier? At least the wishy-washy commitment maker has his cards on the table and you know what you’re getting. Anger in their direction is your own fault… you shouldn’t have counted on their commitment anyway. Hoping against hope isn’t the answer here, track record is the answer.

I get aggravated, angry, and upset with the middle of the road guys. How can you pick and choose what you are committed to when other people are expecting you to uphold your end of the bargain? Do these people value their time over everyone else’s? What makes them more important than the other people involved in the commitment? I don’t understand the rationale here. If I commit to something, I have undertaken a responsibility and I honor my duty.

Duty, responsibility, and commitment… those are pretty large words in our vapid society today. No longer do the masses respect other people and their sacrifices required to honor their commitments. There’s another large word… respect. We have also thrown around the term honor. Honestly, how often do you see these traits in the world today? I would venture to say that if you have experienced these traits in an individual in your life recently, you probably couldn’t wait to tell the next person in your life about your “awesome” experience. These instances have become increasingly rare, and that’s sad.

Starting right now, think about the commitments in your life, no matter how large or small they may be. If you are not honoring your commitments, think about how your actions are hurting those who have chosen to respect their commitment. You may not be an all in person, all the time, but focus on honoring your commitments and people will respect you.

Primarily in my life, I am in constant competition with myself. Sometimes to a fault, I compete against myself in an effort to achieve perfection. As a result, there are certain competitions that I will never undertake and/or complete because I know perfection cannot be achieved and therefore I am left in a state of paralysis. I also have the mentality that if I am going to do something, I am going to do it right. Half right is an utter failure of competition for me. Competing against my own self rules my senses in almost everything I do… I attempt to win at everything I do.

I am a very sports oriented person too. That means that I am also very competitive against groups of people. It doesn’t have to be sports though. Any group that I interact with, I want our group to be perceived as the winner. Winning brings the stamp of approval amongst your peers does it not? Nobody ever crowns the losers do they?

I do not compete with possession. In my young adult life, that statement would not have been true… but these days, the more mature and self confident version of me doesn’t need worldly possession to tell me I’ve won the world’s possession competition. What do you actually win anyway? More bills, more stress, more stuff… great, can you take that with you when you die? Well, nobody really wants the ancillary issues that come along with possession competition… they only want the “stuff.”

Do you compete with your spouse? Sometimes I do, but only in a loving and friendly way. If I do compete with my wife, in actuality, it’s a competition that I want us both to win. I’m not looking to beat her or dominate her and win some hidden achievement. I’m looking to enter into a competition that we both will win. This is what I call a friendly competition.

Other things and people we all have a competition with involve our job, our families, and even inanimate objects. Competition is everywhere in our lives and sometimes we completely miss the point and focus on the wrong things while trying to achieve success. If we simply focus upon winning, then our attention isn’t necessarily in the right place. Focusing upon winning can lead to a win at all costs attitude and will inevitably create issues along the way.

Sometimes, we forget that while on the path to achieving success, others are on that same path. We cannot simply brush them to the side or crush them on the way and assume that it’s ok. We must compete with a fair and friendly attitude. Remember, nobody wants to be associated with a jerk. A winner who competes to win at all costs is in fact, a jerk. Ask their “friends.”

Now that I’ve told you who I compete against, are you much different than me? I think we are all competing amongst ourselves. The only difference is how we go about it and what we truly view as success. I used to compete with the mentality of crushing all opponents, a sports mentality. But in the real world, competing in such a way will not work and in the end, it will leave you as the loser in life. As the new year begins, I have entered into many new competitions. I intend to be successful, but my focus will be upon achieving success without destroying those around me. Competition done fairly and effectively can help everyone and not just the so-called “winner.” So, go compete, but be fair and friendly.

Illegal immigration harms us all in many ways. The end result is that illegal immigration is costing the American taxpayer billions of dollars per year supporting immigrants who have chosen to enter our country through illegal means. We are paying health care costs that will never be repaid, we are allowing food stamps and other life necessities to be obtained freely, and we are allowing cash only workers subvert the job market. Everything an illegal immigrant does harms each and every American citizen. They NEVER pay a single cent in government taxes but receive monetary benefits from our taxpayer funded programs.

You may say that the illegal immigrant fills a low paying job need and that without these workers, thousands of small business owners will be run out of business and the ramifications felt by this would be worse than “supporting” the existence of an illegal immigrant workforce. I say you are wrong. Why should certain business owners be “allowed” to circumvent the rules and regulations all LEGAL business owners must abide by? Why are they deemed so important that their accounting practices are overlooked and pushed to the side because their workforce is made up of illegal immigrants? In my opinion, illegal immigrants are in fact a government subsidy.

A company employing a workforce of illegal immigrants doesn’t have to pay any taxes on their wages which in turn, affects every citizen and business owner who does. The worker doesn’t pay any government taxes on their income which in turn, affects every citizen and business owner who does. The harm is being done because of their failure to pay taxes like every LEGAL immigrant and citizen must do.

You may say they are poor people who need the money to survive and they need it to send to their destitute family across the border. While that may be true, the net effect of that being true creates even more harm on the American tax payer. If they are in fact, sending their money back home, that money is leaving our economy and entering a foreign market. Is that helping our local economy or national economy in any way? I don’t think so.

America has long been the sought after Holy Grail for foreigners looking to upgrade their lives. American borders are open to anyone who wants to legally enter our country unless you are a terrorist or citizen of a militant adversary. Given that we ACCEPT people who want to legally enter our borders, illegal immigrants have no rational argument to stand upon. If our borders were summarily closed for an irrational arbitrary reason, I can see a potential argument for illegal immigration into a country where you can sustain your family and live without fear of starvation. But, that is not the case.

Some politicians want to immediately deport any illegal immigrant within our borders. We are building a massive wall along our border to help stifle the influx of illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican/American border. Other politicians want to immediately give legal citizenship to all illegal immigrants. I have an idea that can suit everyone.

Finish the wall and hire the necessary security force to patrol it. Immediately issue tax identification numbers to ALL illegal immigrants with a stipulation that they MUST complete proper immigration paperwork within 6-12 months or they are promptly deported with no return for a minimum of three years. ALL illegal immigrants are fingerprinted and checked against international and national criminal databases BEFORE being given their tax id. ALL business owners who continue to employ illegal immigrants after 12 months will be IRS audited and their taxes will be raised 25% on income before taxes for a minimum of three years to pay for their accrued past “savings.” After three years, the business will be audited again and if illegal immigrants are still employed or have been in the three year period, the business owner is sent to jail for 2-5 years for tax evasion.

It’s pretty simple. Shore up our borders to make sure the illegal immigrants aren’t allowed entry, allow legal immigrants to enjoy their entry into America, and punish the businesses who employ immigrants and immediately gain tax dollars from the current population of illegal immigrants. Can you think of anything that would be fairer? By fair, I mean not offering government handouts like immediate legal immigrant citizenship or by failing to collect taxes upon the revenue generated by the illegal workforce. The legal citizens of our country deserve fairness and until we correct the illegal immigration problem, we are subsidizing thousands of business and over 11 million illegal immigrants in our country.

When we utilize our right to vote, it forces the candidates to acknowledge the desire and needs of the American citizens. When voter apathy keeps the voter from the polling booth, they are effectively giving away their chance to be heard. Votes are all the political party care about. Polls on issues are one thing. Polls from likely voters are another. Polls from people who will not cast their vote are just a complainer, but polls of likely voters are direction and campaign deciders.

Today, we are hearing that we can expect over 140 million votes cast. In our history, the most votes we tallied came in 2004 with over 122 million. Speaking in terms of percentage of available voters, we are nearing record levels in that arena also. Our nation is expecting the highest percentage of voter age citizens casting their votes since 1960 and maybe even more. In 1960, over 63% of the available public voters cast their vote.

These two campaigns have been able to shake up the apathetic voter bases. At least that is one great accomplishment from this political endeavor even if neither one of them carries out their promises once elected. I said earlier that the political parties must acknowledge the desires and needs of the American voting public because the record turnout carries with it a double edged sword.

On one hand, the candidate who has garnered the support of so many new registrants and attracted so many previously apathetic individuals back to the polls will experience the needed push to win the office of President. On the other, now that they have been voted into office, the public expects them to come through on their promises. Yes, the candidate will win office because of the grass roots injection of voting significance, but fail at carrying through on the campaign promises and you will forever lose their newfound support.

Think about it this way. You promise your mom and dad that you will care for a new puppy and that you will feed it, clean up its messes, and take care of its health issues because you REALLY want a puppy. You will do ANYTHING to get that puppy so you agree to a litany of new rules and regulations handed down by your parents. It’s ok… all that stuff is secondary because you are getting what you KNOW you HONESTLY want… a puppy. But we all know how the story goes. A few days, weeks, or even months pass and the puppy gets big and less fun. It becomes more of a “job.” The promise of happiness that came with the puppy has all of a sudden lost its luster and it just isn’t worth the effort anymore. The puppy has not carried through on your individual idea of what the future would be.

In the end, the puppy must go because you are no longer effective at caring for it and your parents will not take care of your mistake. Obama is our “new puppy” (and no I’m not calling him a dog, you can insert new toy or whatever THING you feel may be personally palatable into this analogy). We see this new politician promising such great things for those who vote for him that our future without him cannot ever be as bright with a replacement. We will agree to a litany of rules and regulations that his party requires us to do for the completion (maybe) of his campaign promises.

Over time, the voting public will have a choice to make. Is Obama carrying through on his promises or did he lead the newfound voting masses like lemmings to a cliff? We all know politicians lie and they hardly ever carry through on their campaign promises because if their predecessors had carried through, we would have a much different political and social landscape. They just cannot satisfy their daunting promises.

So, assuming Obama wins which is the most likely scenario, how many promises does he have to break in the next four years before the very voting public that carried him into office reject his candidacy and look for an alternative? If you promise millions of people something and do not come through, the edge of the sword is sharp and cuts very deep. Obama while becoming a rock star in many of our eyes will have assumed a mountain’s weight of expectation. Fail to satisfy those promises and President Obama could be become an utter failure in the eyes of the world and our nation.

As our markets continue the downward spiral, more and more of us are falling over the cliff and joining those who are already experiencing ultimate hardships. Our media airwaves are dominated by fear and scare mongering. Guest speaker after guest speaker keeps telling us what the problems are but that there is no real answer to fix the situation. Yes, we all know what the problems are which we are facing… we have a handle on that. The problem is for every minutes of airtime being given to these problem speakers, there is no answer to soothe the fears of the citizens listening.

Our President has repeatedly gone on national television in an effort to quell the fears and anxiety we are facing. He is trying to restore the confidence in the markets in an effort to loosen up the grip fear has upon our collective psyche. It isn’t wishes or hopes to fix our fear, it’s is a must. If fear is allowed to roam free amongst us at an ever increasing rampage while destroying our confidence level, our financial markets will not only continue their freefall, they will ultimately collapse under the pressure being exerted by fear and anxiety speculation.

Along with fear and anxiety, comes volatility. It’s readily apparent as you watch our stock market tumble hundreds of points only to recover and then plummet minutes later. People are consumed with fear at this point in time. People are being told to pull their money from banks and store up cash because credit cards may become worthless in the near future. Cash is king and is the most liquid. It helps keep the demon of fear at bay. However, what if every American family heeded this “advice” and promptly removed $500 or $1,000 or more from their bank, or sold off their stocks to place into simple interest bearing accounts?

The answer to that question is complete financial market breakdown. You may think what we are going through is terrible at this juncture, but if people begin hording cash, the issues we face aren’t even the tip of the iceberg in that scenario. While we must live our lives prudently and rearrange our investments into those that will secure our financial stability, we must not let panic and fear rule our investing decisions. The fundamentals of many companies are still strong, but their prices have lowered due to the stock market instability and sell offs. The old adage of “buy low, sell high” applies here. Several dominant companies are well within affordability these days and they should be targets of the savvy investor.

Rather than feed the fear monster our media and country have allowed to grow into a giant sized financial hurricane within our markets, we must focus on how can we act rationally in this situation. Rational is not using your mattress as your bank account. Rational is not selling out of your investments and walking away with a pittance of your previous wealth. Rational is not seizing up your life as things get hard. Yes, we must make alternative choices and decisions, but we cannot allow the demon of fear rule our lives or we will only fuel its power.

No, we cannot live the way we were, we know that. But, we can live rationally well within our means while making rational choices. Our country is currently acting irrationally and allowing outside influences alter choices without understanding the overall consequences of the actions. Media must temper what they are saying because people are easily led to irrational decisions when fear is clouding judgment and decision making. The outlets telling people to pull their cash out and store it are perpetuating the disaster we are feeding. They are allowing it to grow. Be careful in your decision making and make sure you are doing things rationally because they are sound decisions based on rock solid information and not determined by fear and volatility. Rational thinking MUST return to our markets and until then, consumer confidence will continue to decline along with our markets.

AIG felt that a $440,000 vacation was necessary for its executives to relax and come back recharged for the trek back to respectability. Oh, you didn’t know that to come back completely refreshed, it requires about $23,000 on spa treatments to clear the mind? I’m sorry. I just assumed it was a natural cost expenditure of a company retreat… All sarcasm aside, how can anyone in their right mind believe this is an appropriate use of funds when a company has failed, and is failing?

Of course there are untold counts of other companies leeching cash from their coffers to fund similar pursuits. I’m sure they are hidden within the accounting ledger and written off as sales events, customer appreciation, or working retreats. But, how can a company propped up by taxpayer money be allowed to do something so blatantly wrong? The government OWNS 80% of AIG as it stands right now. Ownership implies specific rights. One of those rights includes the ability to fire employees.

Each and every participant and decision maker of this venture should be fired immediately, escorted from their offices, and required to pay back every penny of their misuse of funds. In my opinion, what they did is a form of embezzlement. They have appropriated funds from the company for their own personal use and gain. Did the shareholders (American citizens at this point) agree to send these people on their luxury jaunt? Would we EVER? Of course not…

However, as our lawmakers fume and posture in the halls of Washington, will justice be served? Will we see those who have slapped the face of those who have helped them be rewarded with their justified consequences? I can only hope so. AIG has just given a black eye to the companies who truly need federal assistance to survive. Can people not do what is right even when we are in some of the darkest financial times our generation has ever experienced? Is it too much to ask that executives actually come to work and perform their duties without receiving golden parachutes worth millions whether the company survives or fails? Is it too much to ask that executives, when running a failing company, “give up” their luxury items and take vacations like normal American citizens? Or better yet, not take them at all because they can’t afford them…

The solution to this problem is complete oversight of taxpayer money being given to these bailed out companies. Without that, there will be countless millions of dollars wasted, we know that. Greed cannot be fixed even with failure. When we are shown and faced with this greed, we must take the next step and weed these individuals and groups from within these companies and start anew. AIG is the one who has been caught. They have made our lawmakers stand up and take notice because of their blatant disregard for what is right.

Our lawmakers must remove these “leaders” and require immediate repayment for their actions. Any less and they are in a sense, advocating what they have done. Fire them, fire them now. This is not a political debate of any kind, this is a human debate. Do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. These employees of AIG have shown their true colors of greed and we have been shown why their company was failing in the first place. Greed eventually consumes and destroys. AIG is just one simple case. Their flaunting of greed is astounding. We can only hope that our lawmakers do what is right and reverse the damage AIG has done.

Citation: http://www.cnn.com/

Our economy and market system is primarily based upon free markets and our capitalistic ideology. Government tries to alleviate market manipulation by instituting laws and rules against insider trading, monopolies controlling markets, and providing bailout protection for certain key markets within our economy. Yes, there are government fingers in a lot of places where they shouldn’t be, but overall, the free market idea is still alive and well. Taxes on the other hand, play a major role in the “free” market. Taxation is a form of governmental rule without actually passing laws and rules about how to do business. But, that’s a topic for a different day.

Should we ask our government to pass laws on corporate payment behaviors? For many of us, the quick answer is yes, of course we should. Why should the executives receive money when the company fails and everyone else is losing money? Why should someone who helped drive the business into the ground with faulty decision making and bad policy profit from a disaster? These are all ethical, moral, and fair questions. However, where does the fault reside in these cases?

The fault is not in the government’s lap, it is in the lap of the shareholders and board of directors of these companies. Each company willingly pursued and entered into a contract with their executives. Each board of directors had to be approved by shareholders of the individual companies to speak and enter into business. Yes, they have made very poor decisions, but should the government be asked to provide laws on how the boards and companies do business and provide compensation?

Our government is not here to make laws for business. It is here to protect business by creating and protecting a free market place. If we begin asking our government to fix the upside down payments these executives are receiving, where does it stop? Do we allow government to dive deeper into the market more than they already are? The more government we have in our free market, the less free it becomes.

While I do personally agree that executives should have to pay the price of failure just as the employees are, asking for more rules and regulations is not the way to go. The people responsible are the people on the boards of each company. They are the ones responsible and at fault. Shareholders must take their experience and elect board members who will work more for the company rather than for their own checkbooks via backdoor golden parachutes and stock options.

We all want things to be fair and right and our easiest avenue to this “correctness” is to ask government to step in and clean it up. But, be careful about what you are asking for. More government is almost always wrong. Shareholders must be more adamant in their election process involving board members and also be more conservative on the contracts offered to high level executives.

Remember, these are private businesses signing private contracts. If we choose to ask our government to become involved with legal, private business deals, then we are opening a Pandora’s Box that will never be allowed to close. The fingers of government are long and greedy and they continually spread, invading everything we take for granted.