Lobbyists
Pill Bugs
Americans pay more for drugs than citizens of any other nation. Way more. And our bought-off political leaders have done nothing, absolutely nothing, to ease this crisis. Now, their criminal inaction is going to cost us big.
October 22, 2008 | Read More
Pigs Fly? The Pentagon Cuts A Bloated Program
Last week, something truly bizarre happened in Washington. The Department of Defense actually trimmed a wasteful military contract. But this is the Pentagon we’re talking about. Weapons systems never die. They just get re-bid. And defense contractors like Boeing are already lining up.
October 20, 2008 | Read More
Reason #86: Weapons of War - Our Last Domestic Product
For most of our history, we didn’t have much of a weapons industry in this country. When we faced a war, domestic industries and manufacturers would simply stop making ploughshares and other peacetime goods and use their factories to produce the arms and military equipment we needed. As Eisenhower pointed out in his farewell speech, though, all of that changed after World War II. Numerous manufacturers that had switched to arms making during the war simply kept at it. And many, many more defense firms sprung up to supply our endless appetite for arms to fight the Cold War.
Worst of…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
Slam the Revolving Door
Men like George Bush Sr. should be ashamed. After he left office, he went to work jetting around the world and shilling for the Carlyle Group. In other words, he cashed in on his time as president like it was some kind of corporate internship instead of public service. He’s not alone. Just about every other president has used his post-White House years in similarly vulgar fashion.
This kind of unsavory exploitation of public office is all too common-and it’s a real problem. How can we trust our leaders to make the right decisions while in office if they’re all just bucking…
August 26, 2008 | Read More
Get out of the Lobby!
I’m not one of those people who believe all lobbyists should be banned. As much as I’d enjoy seeing all those well-healed mouthpieces tossed out of Washington on their rumps, lobbyists should be allowed to speak with lawmakers all they want. They’re American citizens after all and our elected officials work for them as well. But here’s the catch: they should not enjoy any special or secret access.
First of all, no lobbyist should ever be allowed to write any part of any piece of legislation. It’s absurd that I should even have to say that. But that’s how bad it’s…
August 26, 2008 | Read More
Reason #35: Corporate Law Making
All too often, lobbyists will actually “help” lawmakers pen pieces of legislation or even hand them readymade, already-written bills to bring to a vote. Think I’m exaggerating? Think again. Huge portions of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit were actually written or revised by pharmaceutical company lobbyists.
A 2002 expose in Mother Jones Magazine profiled a group called the “American Legislative Exchange Council,” which has been handing out these kinds of off-the-rack laws for years. Funded by major corporations like Philip Morris and big industry trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying council flies thousands of state legislators to an annual conference…
August 26, 2008 | Read More
Reason #34: Washington’s Money-Go-Round
These days, more and more lobbyists are former politicians. In 2005, Public Citizen found that over 40 percent of recently retired lawmakers went into lobbying. But even that high number is actually drastically low. It doesn’t include hundreds of “retired” office holders like ex-senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole, who is not officially registered as a lobbyist but still works for a major lobbying firm providing, “strategic advice to clients.”
These ex-pols turned professional mouthpieces barely change their daily routines when they switch careers. They walk the same halls, schmooze with the same people, and toil for the same special interests.…
August 26, 2008 | Read More
Reason #33: Sex in the Lobby
One of the main ways corporations influence our government is by using lobbyists. Some 35,000 of these paid persuaders prowl Washington DC now, bending politicians’ ears on behalf of big corporations and doling out fat checks for the next election. That works out to about 65 lobbyists for every member of congress. All told, corporations and other interest groups shelled out $2.8 billion in federal lobbyist fees in 2007. But that’s just in Washington. Lobbying is a boom industry at all levels of government. In the 42 states that reported lobbying expenditures for 2004, almost $1 billion was spent on lobbying…
August 26, 2008 | Read More
