I’ve really had it up to here with this administration’s seemingly endless ability to launder taxpayer and other money (that’s right, that’s what I said - launder money) right under our noses, paying off the cronies that got them into power and the people who might help get them more of it.

The latest chapter in this fraud is the way in which Obama and his cronies are handling the Chrysler debacle. I should preface this by saying that this entire discussion if predicated on stipulation to the belief that the Federal government has some sort of authority to get involved in the business dealings of Chrysler (or any other company, for that matter) - even though the Constitution expressly forbids them to do so. You have to get past that pesky detail and move on to discuss this…

So with that said, Robert Gibbs went on national television and, in typical fashion, “umm’ed and uhhh’ed” his way through another barely understandable statement - choosing this time to smear the hedge funds who held out taking a substandard deal. ”They tried to, in a sense, play chicken with the government for a better deal, and nobody blinked.”

Let’s be clear, sir. These hedge funds had and continue to have every right - nay, a fiduciary responsibility to their investors to get the best return possible on their investment. Obama has characterized these hedge funds as having dome something unscrupulous and as having caused the negotiations to fall apart, sending Chrysler into Chapter 11. Unfortunately, the reality couldn’t be further from that.

These 20 or so firms are investment companies who which did not receive or refused (how DARE they!) TARP funds, and hold about

The group, which does not identify who they are but sources said includes boutique firm Perella Weinberg, hedge fund Stairway Capital and asset manager OppenheimerFund, said they had been “systematically precluded” from engaging in direct negotiations with the government. Instead, the Obama administration put in charge of the negotiations the four large banks who received billions of dollars in TARP funds (read: government-controlled banks) which also just happen to own 70 percent of the $6.9 billion in loans. Hmm… sounds a bit to me like the wolf guarding the hen house, no? These four firms, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have all agreed to the government’s offer of $2.25 billion, or 33 cents on the dollar, for the loans. Perhaps that’s because they’re flush with taxpayer cash and can take a beating on the recovery? I don’t know, I’m just saying…

“We have been forced to communicate through an obviously conflicted intermediary: a group of banks that have received billions of TARP funds,” the lenders who rejected the government offer said.

The holdout lenders — who said their combined debt holding represents about $1 billion of the $6.9 billion owed to senior secured lenders – struck back at Gibbs this morning after Gibbs (and by proxy, Obama) blamed them for causing the imminent bankruptcy. The group said they had offered to accept 60 cents on the dollar, despite “long recognized legal and business principles” that gives senior lenders such as themselves the right to be repaid in full before others recover anything in bankruptcy court. You see, Obama is flatly violating US bankruptcy law by allowing entities who are less senior lenders (and as such have less right to the payback) like Citigroup and, lo and behold, the UAW (again, really?) to jump to the front of the line ahead of debt holders who are demonstrably their senior. This clearly violates US bankruptcy law that has been on the books for decades. I don’t know why I’m surprised at this - this administration has shown nothing but contempt for the Constitution and the manner in which it dictates what they can and cannot do.

“Our offer has been flatly rejected or ignored,” the group said. “In its earnest effort to ensure the survival of Chrysler and the well being of the company’s employees, the government has risked overturning the rule of law and practices that have governed our world-leading bankruptcy code for decades.”

This is nothing more than another money laundering scheme to curry favor with the UAW and Goldman, you watch. The UAW is set to take a majority position in the Fiat deal, and they will get an unjustified recovery from the Chapter 11 filing of Chrysler. Chalk that up to two American automakers that will now be run by the very people whose antiquated and idiotic business practices ran these companies into the ground in the first place. Good luck with that one…

I have to say, if I was Perella Weinberg or one of these other funds, I would have just held out on principle, even if it means recovering even less in the bankruptcy proceedings as a result. It’s about time someone stood up to Obama, Geithner and the rest of these economic illiterates and told them no - we’re not doing it your way. Obama is simply angry that since these firms didn’t take TARP money, that he has absolutely no sway over them. We need more companies like Goldman to tell him to stick his TARP funds where the sun don’t shine.