In a refreshing defense of capitalism the Washington Post editors write:

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, and it was with this thought in mind that we endorsed the federal government’s decision to pump billions of dollars into the automakers. But the spectacle of creditors being stripped of their legal rights in favor of a labor union with which the president is politically aligned does little to attract private capital at a time when the government and many companies need these investors the most. Investors’ fears will only be compounded if the administration follows a similar blueprint with GM.

This is of course only one aspect of the Obama mega-government that sucks up everything and anyone in its way. As government’s grasp extends — to car companies, executive compensation, healthcare,  industrial emissions and more — fewer and fewer decisions are made on their economic merits and more policies becomes a matter of political calculation.

It is not just that government is getting bigger and more unaffordable, it is that it corrupts private-sector decision making. Hedge funds don’t operate on behalf of their shareholders because they are currying favor with the government. CEOs don’t honor executive compensation deals with their employees because they fear the mob. And soon doctors, insurers, drug companies, and the other healthcare players will be operating without regard to patients, customers, and shareholders solely to maximize their deal from the government.

We are told the president doesn’t really “like” doing any of this and that day-to-day operation of private firms will vanish when the “emergency” passes. Unfortunately, it is hard to see, even if he keeps his word, what will be left of large segments of the economy and how the habits of government dependency can be unlearned once government recedes. Perhaps the Chryslers, GMs, and AIGs will all collapse under the weight of their gross mismanagement and enfeebled leadership which looks to Washington rather that to the markets for direction. And then, their failure will remind the survivors that it is dangerous to become the ward of an ever-avarice government.