In this weekend's Wall Street Journal, SD Sen. John Thune pitches his Government Ownership Exit Plan.
His point:
Our financial markets are no longer in free fall and the crisis has receded. Yet we now find ourselves in a troubling situation where the federal government is a major owner of more than 600 U.S. financial institutions and banks, as well as two auto makers, an international insurance conglomerate, and numerous other businesses.
President Obama has become the de facto CEO of large chunks of our economy, with the power to hire and fire executives, dictate salaries, declare what products should be made, and decide winners and losers in the marketplace. The inherent conflicts of interest are enormous and should be a concern to all Americans.
.... TARP has run its course. The time for ending it is now.
A Rasmussen Reports poll, released June 16, found broad support for the spirit of Thune's plan.
Eighty percent (80%) of U.S. voters want the government to sell its stake in General Motors and Chrysler as soon as possible..... Voters feel nearly as strongly about the ownership interest the government has taken in several bailed-out U.S. banks. Seventy-one percent (71%) say the government should sell that ownership to private investors as soon as possible.
