If there was ever any doubt the federal government is wasteful and inefficient, there can be no more debate.President Barack Obama was able to charm people with his grace and eloquence. His pedestrian proposals were secondary to the elation many felt about electing a president who could speak in complete sentences.But recent events have shown his true colors — and that color is red.When former President George W. Bush gave his treasury secretary Henry Paulson free rein to intimidate and coerce banks into signing on to his ill-advised attempt at averting economic disaster, he opened the door for Obama to impose his socialist-like will on corporate America.During his last days in office, Bush gave an interview to CNN where he claimed, “I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.”Part of this abandonment of the free market included railroading through Congress a $700 billion march towards collectivism.In October 2008, the Bush administration announced plans to “inject capital” into the country’s faltering financial institutions by purchasing equity in some of the largest banks.Once the government began investing in stocks to help bolster the ailing economy, the country was set on a course from which we may not be able to recover.”Whatever you want to call it, if we are strengthening them [the banks], then the American people should get some of the upside of that strengthening. “Some people call that nationalization,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told ABC News earlier this year.Some people don’t just call this nationalization — it is nationalization. The government owns a portion of the institutions in which it has invested.By purchasing ownership in private companies, the government has put itself in an untenable position. Paulson began acting like a financial adviser for the American people — taking the money gained by fiat through taxation and unilaterally putting it into institutions unable to raise capital on their own.These institutions were in trouble because private investors were scared to put their own money into them. But Paulson felt it was his duty to override the public’s better judgment.By investing taxpayers’ money without any consideration to the downside, Paulson also took it upon himself to pick winners and losers. The government began controlling economic output by propping up businesses that should have been allowed to fail.Once the government begins supporting some businesses, others who don’t get help suffer. Then they too have to grovel at the feet of the almighty.The actions carried out by the Paulson-Bush bailouts have increased the dependence of the American people on the federal government to the detriment of us all.Now the torch of self-assuredness has found its home in the person of Obama.This past Wednesday, Obama unveiled his plan to cap executive compensation at $500,000.This is the first step in the culmination of what began with the Bush administration.Now that the government has partial ownership in private industries, it can mandate how those industries are run. Increasingly, the federal government will require private industry to conform to how the president thinks businesses should operate. Instead of being given the freedom to innovate and succeed on its own, businesses will face increased stagnation because of federal policies. Old industries will continue on past their usefulness, and new technologies will be held up in the name of the “common good.”Businesses must be allowed to fail, regardless of how far reaching their influence. Without the failure of the old ideas, the new can’t move forward.The old Alex Box was near and dear to the hearts of every LSU baseball fan. It was the Rosentblatt of the South.But now a new era is dawning in the storied history of the baseball program. There’s a new stadium that should be ready for opening day that is poised to help carry on the tradition of the old stadium while adding new memories of its own.The Box will not be the same, but it will be the home of the Tigers as they swing their way into a new century of excellence.This is how business should be conducted. Never forget the past, but don’t get stuck in it.Instead of strengthening America, the collectivist policies of both the past and new administration will eventually set America back.Innovation, advancement and success will be severely hampered if the government doesn’t stop trying to “fix” the economy.Capping salaries and directing how the industry should operate isn’t going to do anything but bog business down in the mud of old, rehashed socialist ideals.The economy will fix itself if the process of purgation is allowed to be carried out.——Contact Drew Walker at [email protected]