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As you probably know by now, there are over 20 "czars" and the number keep growing. This is unheard of and a disgrace to the new administration that it has chosen this non-constitutional route to exercising control over people's lives. "Czar" is a Russian equivalent

of "Caesar" in our language.....so these czars are little puppet Caesar's serving only one puppetmaster, the Czar of Czars, and we all know who he is. If you want a suggestion for this website, please bring back the United States Constitution, I sorta miss it....

Where are you getting this information? I haven't read anything about czars. Is this inflated political language? I'm awfully suspicious about this one. ;-)

I did hear (on Kudlow) that there are now 21 czars. I would also like to know what the scope is of the czar's authority and domain as opposed to the authority of the cabinet members who would normally handle these functions.

Kieffer, come out from under the rock !! We need you, too...

Czar Watch: The Pay Czar

posted at 2:12 pm on June 5, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

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May the Lord bless and keep the Czar … far away from us!

That line from Fiddler on the Roof applies more and more to the Obama administration. The White House has announced yet another czar to exert power without Congressional oversight, and this one should get everyone’s attention. Kenneth Feinberg will enforce administration policy on executive compensation for TARP recipients:

The Obama administration plans to appoint a “Special Master for Compensation” to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.

The administration is expected to name Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the federal government’s compensation fund for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to act as a pay czar for the Treasury Department, these people said.

Mr. Feinberg’s appointment could be announced as early as next week, when the administration is expected to release executive-compensation guidelines for firms receiving aid from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Those companies, which include banks, insurers and auto makers, are subject to a host of compensation restrictions imposed by the Bush and Obama administrations and by Congress.

Wall Street has been anxiously awaiting more details on how the rules will be applied. “The law is confusing and a bit ambiguous, and so we’re looking for certainty as to how to structure pay incentives,” said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade association.

And how will Feinberg’s power be defined? As broadly as possible:

Mr. Feinberg will report to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, but he is expected to have wide discretion on how the rules should be interpreted. Firms likely won’t be able to appeal decisions that Mr. Feinberg makes to Mr. Geithner, according to people familiar with the matter.

No right to appeal? Pick any other area of law enforcement where defendants have no right to appeal, let alone get a fair hearing of their grievances. The IRS allows appeals, for instance. Hell, even the detainees at Guantanamo Bay have the right to appeal decisions by military tribunals to the federal appellate court. The appointment of czars means an unconstitutional application of power almost by definition, as the positions deliberately bypass Congressional oversight, and now apparently the judiciary as well.

This demonstrates why I’ve been warning about the czar culture at the White House. It puts power into the hands of one man, Barack Obama, and eliminates any accountability for his actions. In order for Congress to stop the actions of any czar, they would have to impeach Obama first, a highly unlikely scenario while Democrats control Congress, and hope that Joe Biden would get the message. Otherwise, the branch that represents the people have no control over the law-enforcement actions of their government, and the courts would have no clear entry point to check executive power.

We’re now getting a czar a day. How many days until Congress figures out that they’ve been stripped of their power?

21 Czars as of Jun 5, 2009

Are they all czars (like Ivan the Terrible)? Aren't some of them czarinas (like Empress Catherine the Great)? Virtually none of these 'czars' have ever spent a day working in the private economy...so that seems to be a common thread....they're mostly academics and bureaucrats. Like the nomenklatura clas of Russian communism. Like I said, please bring back the United States Constitution, I "sorta" miss it.

It's not so much their qualifications, it is the fact that we (used to) have a government system of checks and balances, (before the Congressman started running scared and no longer representing the People in an effort to help their personal re-election campaigns.) Congress is the checks and balances. Czars report directly to the President. This is something Hitler did, he made sure no faction of the government had the entire picture. Now, with Czars, Obama can (continue to) usurp the government.

"Are they all czars (like Ivan the Terrible)?"

This is too much! ROFL! My aunt once had a schnauzer by that name. He was a drag.

But this inflated political language--it's coming from the media--c'mon, guys. Wasn't William Bennett referred to as the "Drug Czar"?

lol.

Yes, Bennett was the drug czar, as were many others. But he one. We noiw have 21 and there will be more next week. These are influential

people who make imprtant decisions completly without Congressional oversight. Welcome to the Change we were promised, but never dreamed would be this way in Amerika, land of the Czars.

It's nice how they are vetted and have to confirmed in the Senate. So much for checks and balances. Not a peep from the "progressives" who screamed about the Constitution daily when Booosh was in.

It's nice how they are vetted and have to confirmed in the Senate.

>>>>> Did you really mean that the way it was written. The whole problem with this newly upscaled "Czar system" is that it has no Congressional oversight. No Senate role of advise and CONSENT. They are only responsible to The One, and not to the people they affect. Scary situation na

[sorry, hut the send button before finishing]

Scary situation that has historical precursors, and none that ended well. This one will not end well either for the people of these United States.

Please! Don't call them czars. They should be called commissars. The socialist revolution has already taken place.

Good one !! Yes, of course, you're right; we're in the post-revolutionary phase !! "Czar" must just be a term of endearment, Comrade....

Where does the constitutin call for the creation of unelected Czars?