Apparently, Chicago politics has common threads among public officials whose genetic makeup knows no bounds in ruthlessly getting what they want. Richard Daley set the standard in Chicago with Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel being two examples of this legacy.
Most of us would agree that banks ought to be able to deal with their clients in a free market environment. There are, of course, new regulations precluding banks from dealing in reckless speculation for good reason. The banking system is essential to the protection of the American economy.
Many of us believe that the government should not have bailed out failed large banks, as the free market would have adjusted to the economic collapse of 2007. There were banks that would have survived, and those that may have failed would have suffered their demise due to poor policies. Those that survived would have established a newly invigorated banking system with restraint on the reckless behavior that caused the economic collapse in the first place.
However, reckless speculation does not warrant overreaching by public officials to dictate how and to whom banks extend credit. That is the precise description of what Rahm Emanuel has now done as Mayor of Chicago. In letters to two banks, he has made demand that they discontinue their credit lines with Sturm Ruger and Smith & Wesson, two successful and stable companies.
Apparently, Emanuel thinks his value system should be superimposed on the banking industry and how they do business. These companies simply manufacture firearms. It should be apparent even to a radical ideologue like Emanuel that they are not committing crimes by the manufacture of those firearms. And, since more than 99% of all firearms sold in America are used legally, perhaps Emanuel should look at doing more about the criminal who commits the crime, since a gun as an inanimate object cannot commit a crime on its own.
Further, Emanuel leads a city that has a worse record for murder than what we see in Afghanistan. And, until the recent Federal Appeals Court decision, his city of Chicago had the toughest gun control law in the country. Citizens could not own firearms in Chicago. Period.
In addition, a recent study of the impact of gun control laws demonstrates that there is no impact of these laws on deterring violent crime. In fact, Kennesaw, Georgia passed a law requiring its citizens to own firearms, and guess what? Since that law was passed 3 decades ago, the crime rate is dramatically lower. Criminals go after the vulnerable, not the prepared.
Rahm Emanuel knows these facts. He is not ignorant, but he is an ideologue who allows his beliefs to rule over the facts and reality.
Banks should be free to do business with companies based on the financial viability of that relationship, as long as the company is operating legally. There is no place for the Rahm Emanuels of the world to use their bullying and thuggery to dictate how banks should do business or with whom. The truth is that Sturm Ruger and Smith & Wesson are strong and viable private companies. Banks are more secure financially in dealing with them than the degraded financial condition of Chicago and Rahm Emanuel who operates a violent and economically destroyed city.
Would you loan money to the City of Chicago under the alleged leadership of Rahm Emanuel?
