'Seize the Day -- And the Key Industry!'

The Obama administration is pushing legislation to give it authority to "seize key companies" -- and some Democrats are complaining that it doesn't go far enough.

So says the LA Times:

The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.

Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, the government would have new powers to seize key companies -- such as insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks.

[SNIP]

"This is too little, too late," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), based on his understanding of the plan. "It's going to be way less than it should be."

Naturally, Tiny (Tax Cheat) Tim Geithner is all in favor of this little piece of Marxist politics.

"We had a system that proved too unstable, too fragile. . . . Those are things we have to change," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Monday at an economic forum in New York.

I am developing a sure rule of thumb these days. If Tiny Tim is for something, I'm not going to like it.

But he's not alone:

Administration officials also have dismissed suggestions that they had moved too slowly, saying they had pushed ahead despite calls from some quarters for them to wait until the end of the crisis before acting.

"There are people who believe that the wrong time to reorganize the fire department is while the fire may still be burning," Lawrence H. Summers, chairman of the White House's National Economic Council and Obama's chief economic advisor, said in a speech Friday. "The president has concluded very strongly that that view is wrong. . . . Experience teaches that once the crisis has passed, the will to reform will pass as well."

Never let a crisis go to waste. Especially if you helped create it in the first place.

Do you believe that the Obama administration will be content to "seize" just a few more companies so that they can "get a handle" on the economy?

Or will it be like illegally using TARP funds to bailout the auto companies, then pressuring the auto companies into bankruptcy plans that give actual ownership to the government?

Rogue regimes will use any little pretext -- any slim guise of legality -- to shred the heart of the law.

Wake up, America!