Spot On: ‘I Want To Be A Crony’ — With a ‘Perfect’ Awful Example
The folks at Crony Chronicles ask: “Children used to have aspirations to achieve greatness in the private sector. But what are they learning now?
Humorous, but sobering (Direct YouTube):
“Totally Unrelated” (actually, totally related): “Obama relaxes regulations when it suits his campaign” (bolds are mine) —
… when Obama wants to, he’s relieved the regulatory burden on businesses that matter to him, like a refinery in Philadelphia that was set to close, which would have killed union jobs and increased fuel prices, potentially hurting his reelection effort.
… According to a recent Wall Street Journal story , the main oil refinery in Philadelphia would have closed had it not been for the intervention of the White House in convincing a private equity group to buy it.
“Gene Sperling, director of Mr. Obama’s National Economic Council, helped kick-start discussions to sell the refinery to Carlyle Group.”
… in order to make the deal, Sperling and the administration had to agree to relax Clean Air Act regulations.
“A key issue Carlyle identified was a 2005 consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency under which Sunoco agreed to limit emissions at its refineries. Carlyle wanted to work on the refinery without triggering costly environmental reviews.”
Guess what? Carlysle got their excemption and can now pollute more. Carlysle also got a sweet deal since they didn’t have to pay anything for a majority stake in the refinery. The company is shouldering the burden for upgrades.
This is what’s known as a “bailout” — the ultimate in cronyism.
I can’t really say I blame Carlyle for what they did (after all, it’s not often you get to stick it to the EPA) and don’t agree with NYP that they “can now pollute more” because Clean Air Standards are too high to begin with and the supposed negative effects of air ‘pollution’ which have led to such regulations are bunk but I am upset at the blatant use of government power to cherry pick who and under what circumstances gets the noose removed.
Comment by zf — August 23, 2012 @ 8:17 pm
Understand and agree with your points. From the enviros’ perspective, that’s what it is — and you won’t hear a peep out of them.
Comment by Tom — August 24, 2012 @ 5:30 am
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