Under the Bush team a prominent and profitable bank, under threat of a damaging public audit, was forced to accept less than $1 billion of TARP money.

Fast forward to today, and that same bank is begging to give the money back. The chairman offers to write a check, now, with interest. …But the Obama team says no, since unlike the smaller banks that gave their TARP money back, this bank is far more prominent. The bank has also been threatened with “adverse” consequences if its chairman persists. That’s politics talking, not economics.

Read more about Obama’s politicization of the economy here at the WSJ

All of this was expected by those of us who recognized Obama as the Chicago style fascist that he is. And this isn’t the end of it. Given a taste for this this kind of power he will not be able to stop. Look for him to move into healthcare and oil. I see prices at the pump are climbing towards $3 again. I expect to see the administration begin its smear campaign against the oil industry any day now.

Overlooked here is that in a free market business failures are not just normal, they’re crucial for the best products and ideas to emerge. Most restaurants fail in their first three years because customers have other preferences. Many mom-and-pop grocers go out of business because Walmart offers better selection and lower prices. Even whole industries–think typewriters, 8-tracks and horses and buggies–vanish because new inventions and competitors arise.

None of these failures are a problem, nor do they threaten the system. On the contrary, they are an inherent part of the progress which only capitalism makes possible.

So why would failures in the financial industry be any different?