We are all Roman Catholics now.

Executives in the private sector are well compensated because of their ability to manage risk. Additionally, much of their compensation is tied in with the performance of the business. With government-owned business there is no risk of failure. As happened with FANNIE and FREDDIE taxpayer money will bail them out of problems. So what is the justification for paying these people large salaries? None that I can see.

It depends. If the handout makes their life cushy, then for the unemployed the handout, while it lasts, is better. If the handout truly is a subsistence, then the job is the better bet. For taxpayers it is a no brainer -- it is always better to have people employed rather than on the government dole.

Besides pundits who write about the blathering of this bird brain, does anyone else watch or listen to his programs?

Taxes, regulation, and mandates impose cost upon business; these costs, in turn, are added to the price of goods and services. By the Law of Supply and Demand, an increased price for a good or a service reduces demand. The greater the government burden, the higher the prices of goods and services, and the lower the demand. There is no mystery. The burden the federal government approaches 50% of economic activity -- that is, the price of goods and services are doubled to service the demands of the federal government. The only possible result of this much government is slow growth.

According to the Law of Supply and Demand, scarce items bring a higher price. Therefore full employment is the best medicine to increase worker's wages. A corollary is that the creative individuals who design new products or can successfully bring them to market, and whose skill is rare, will earn more than those working to deliver the good or service.

oops. meant to say "As the federal government increasingly uses regulation for its GOVERNANCE, tyranny grows."

The rules of implementation, written by unelected bureaucrats, are in essence legislation. With the IRS powers to seize property, without court involvement, (DEA does this as well), the Executive Branch has assumed all government functions. As the federal government increasingly uses regulation for its government, tyranny grows. If you love your freedom, demand that Congress put a stop to it.

The Regulatory Branch of government is THE problem -- every last piece of it -- and Americans, if they value their freedom, should demand that it be dismantled. Beyond just the, current, $2 trillion annual drain, is the fact that it is the mechanism for government to impose tyranny. In Federalist #47, Madison wrote "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. " The Regulatory Branch of government is increasing its grasp on the citizens' throats because Congress passes omnibus bills they don't read that leave the details to the Executive Branch.

as opposed to pollutants that are generic and benign?