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“retroactive == not legal. it just isn’t.”

In all seriousness, there’s legal and then there’s what you can get away with. I worked at Honeywell in the ‘80’s. The GAO sent an audit team consisting of at least 20 people. They spent a year trying to prove fraud and abuse. The only thing they could come up with was a memo signed by a newly appointed VP who authorized funding to continue on the previous charge number when that number ran out. It turns out that it was technically not legal. But he was new and his advisors handed it to him to sign. There was no intent to defraud. The GAO had to justify their effort and tried to make that into a multi-million dollar fine. They threatened to prosecute the VP and send him to jail. Honeywell negotiated it down to a few hundred thousand dollars. Honeywell could have fought it, but “build a golden bridge for your enemy to retreat across.” (I was friends with the VP’s son and they spent a tense six months while the GAO progressively threatened to have him arrested and put in jail to await trial, etc.) The takeaway from this is that government is another form of coercion. They want money, they confiscate it. Usually, they try to find a “legal” reason, but not always. Often, they find a way that works and nobody can fight.

” The takeaway from this is that government is another form of coercion.”

So, basically reinforcing somethign that we already knew. It’s like the Bambino family but with more firepower.