More on the Thugocracy

As if you didn't have enough on your plate, take a look at this post by Concerned American at Western Rifle Shooters Association. This will make your blood boil.

It has been coming out in dribs and drabs that the banks were forced, much like gangsters to it, to "accept" the government as a partner. Here Concerned American links to yet another report.

These documents show that the banks in question were literally forced to accept the interference of the government in the form of equity investment under the direct threat that their primary regulator (the OTS or OCC, as the case may be) would force them to do so if they refused. Both OTS and OCC are run by Treasury.

The outrage here is not just that these CEOs were forced (literally) to take the money. It is also that they were forced to, at the same time, accept whatever FUTURE restrictions on activity, including compensation, Treasury or Congress desired to impose.

In short the banks were forcibly nationalized without a prior finding of insolvency; this is blatantly unconstitutional as a "taking" without compensation.

I would enjoy the outrage more, but the government has been "taking" under color of various environmental laws for years. Of course, they don't call it a taking, and the courts have backed them up. Still, this outrages me as well.

Is it time to raise the specter of impeachment?