Fascism and Crony Capitalism: Feds Attempt to Oust Howard Solomon of Forest Labs

It was called fascism when Bush did it

by the Left Coast Rebel

Bear with me, this issue may seem convoluted, but it is anything but. As reported by Alicia Mundy in the Wall Street Journal, yesterday:

A government attempt to oust a longtime drug-company chief executive over his company's marketing violations is raising alarms in that industry and beyond about a potential expansion of federal involvement in the business world.

The Department of Health and Human Services this month notified Howard Solomon of Forest Laboratories Inc. that it intends to exclude him from doing business with the federal government. This, in turn, could prevent Forest from selling its drugs to Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Administration. If the government implements its ban, Forest would have to dump Mr. Solomon, now 83 years old, in order to protect its corporate revenue. No drug company, large or small, can afford to lose out on sales to the federal government, a major customer.

(SNIP)

A federal court made the deal final in March. Forest Labs representatives said they were shocked when the intent-to-ban notice was received a few weeks later, because Mr. Solomon wasn't accused by the government of misconduct.

Forest is sticking by its chief. "No one has ever alleged that Mr. Solomon did anything wrong, and excluding him [from the industry] is unjustified," said general counsel Herschel Weinstein. "It would also set an extremely troubling precedent that would create uncertainty throughout the industry and discourage regulatory settlements."

There are so many moving parts to this story but I think that, for the most part it comes down to one simple phrase: crony capitalism (and a government so big and intrusive that it now believes it can pick and choose "proper" corporate management).

And as we all know, crony capitalism is the incestuous stepson of a lovely form of government: fascism.

The definition of fascism from Dictionary.com:

fas·cism

[fash-iz-uhm]

( sometimes initial capital letter ) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce,and an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

Well, we're not at the nationalism part, yet, given that the crony-capitalist-in-chief hates this nation so much, so we'll have to fudge the definition, just a little. The palpable hatred of business by our rulers betters, though, is a form of irrational hatred, similar to racism as well as a flaming form of collectivism.

Sadly, we live in a nation where a certain (and growing) number of the population would not mind if the hated "rich" captains of industry were thrown into a Siberia-esque prison and left to rot.

I want my country, my Constitution and my liberties back.

Via Memeorandum.

Related must watch: Congressman Ron Paul questions Ben Bernanke on the Free Market vs. Crony Capitalism (look closely when Bernanke answers with a non-answer and you will see that Code Pinko -- what's her name? -- in the crowd as well):

Updated: I wanted my tea-partying, cyclist-libertarian-vegan-populist-capitalist-pig-financial-guru buddy, WC Varone's take on the story. In the inbox:

I think this is the inevitable result of allowing the government to be such a huge buyer in the economy.

When the government is the only customer, what choice do companies have but to obey?

Same thing with Boeing and the NLRB. If they fight, Obama will punish them on procurement.

Yup.