More political haymaking in Congress
 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...wpisrc=al_excl

Or is it called featherbedding.....

It is simply a way for the corporations to bribe members of Congress. Instead of trying to explain how that extra $100,000 appeared in your bank account they now have the excuse, it was a stock trade.

:(


Carl

This lobbying deal is not what some of you think it is, us bribing the lawmakers?:mad:
Yeah right, you think we enjoy sending cash to these buzzards? Think about that.

Poor baby!

John

Yeah in most circles it's called insider trading and a felony.:mad:
You're of the libertarian persuasion, right Jack? ;)

Slightly worse, actually. Usually, a case of insider trading revolves around acting on some sort of confidential information that tells you in advance of something that will affect the value of a stock. What Congress does is create those conditions. That allows them to buy a stock prior to an increase that they set in motion or to set in motion things which will enhance the value of stocks they already own.

John

We don't hire the lobbyists, corporations and even foreign governments do the hiring.

Now they say lobbying is covered by the First, really? I would think that whenever the Constitution uses the word "people" they mean citizens or lawful residents, not Abu Dhabi.

You guys can spin it however you like but the truth is most business owners
are threatened by our wonderful left or right depending on what the business is.
So you have to hire a lobbyist or create a pac to pay one side to protect
you from the other side. Then when the day is over they split it up on the
golf course between the three of them. Don't think for a minute that's not
how it works. It's not right, but it is what it is.

Oh, COME ON!

Of course business owners protect their interests. That's why the rest of us should too.

And NO! A business owners interests and mine are NOT always one and the same. Actually, the older I get and the more I see, the more I am coming to believe that they are RARELY the same.

Correct. And what is happening the organizations that traditionally have hired lobbyists on behalf of ordinary (Non-business owning) citizens?:rolleyes:

Jack, the business owners have most of the power these days, they are just whining because they want it all. Didn't you hear the news Corporations are now people, so they can buy the government all for themselves, and you and I can go piss up a rope.

No it's not a case of business owners "wanting it all". Any business that makes
money will be subject to, sooner or later, threats of legislation usually from
the left. Legislation that would put them out of business or place hardship
on the owners and employees to be compliant. You read more about the
bigger corporations such as drug, energy, healthcare ect... and since the
national media is leftward biased you come away with impression that they
are all evil corrupt people that want you dead or something. It's just
propaganda that some of you believe so you throw your vote their way
expecting that things will get better since they are such upstanding
citizens and all. Well are things getting better for the regular guy?
Have they helped you out lately? Did we get change? Did people without
healthcare get any? Did they save anyone from living under a bridge?
Where's the electric cars we were promised? And all the jobs that were to
be created from alternative energy? Any one seen any new bridges or
highways built by new workers?
Of course not, there's no money to be swindled helping out American citizens.
So the point I was trying to make is that the left is just as corrupt as the
right, more so in my opinion.
Where is the money they take from the right? do they pay taxes on it?
Have they helped anyone out or just lined their own pockets while spending
all of ours?

I think you are impatient Jack. Took several years and more of the deregulation mantra to get us in the shitter we are in now. You can't expect miracles on such a timeframe. Even if one believes that Obama is the toothfairy it can't happen as fast as you would like it to and no reason to toss the baby with the bathwater in the meantime. Give it time.

There's been a buttload of highway building going on around here.

I've seen the Chevy Volt a few times. It's a pretty sharp-looking, well made car - but as is usually the case with new technologies, it's expensive for the first users.

My 22 and 24 year old sons are still on our health insurance while they are getting their start in life. That means that they are getting the medical care they need. (Somebody needs to tell them that basketball is a contact sport :rolleyes:) I know that if I change jobs, I don't have to worry a out being covered for a pre-existing condition.

There were millions of Americans whose unemployment benefits were extended. I would imagine that such benefits kept a few of them from living under a bridge.

The GOP fought tooth and nail against the legislation that made much of the above possible. And you can be damn sure that the lobbyists from the Chamber of Commerce lobbyists weren't pushing it. Yeah, it makes a difference. Not as much of a difference as I would like, but it still makes a difference who is in office.

Regards,

D-Ray

I agree with you D-Ray, there have been a few minor changes that help
out the little guy and that's a good thing. If we can get more money on
the street with job creation things could really turn around and in a hurry.
But with all the bickering and extortion going on and the threat of higher
taxes I just don't see anything happening much until after the election.

So all those big corporations are kindly, generous folk? So whay have wages stagnated for most workers while the folks on Mahogany Row get fat bonuses. Y'all want to google Lewis Powell and his memo to the Chamberpot of Commerce for a little enlightenment.

Time? How long does it take to prosecute fraud? Apparently two terms for the left, one for the right ;)

Greed is a normal human state. What gets me is this: the government is immune to it? Ha, I say, fie. And the old saw about not being able to legislate a mans heart...

Pete

So exactly what point of law are you planning to charge the bankers with, y'all dismanteled Glass Steagal. Greedy? Hell yes, but what can we charge them with? Greedy, underhanded, scum but that is not against the law.

Nothing? Nada zip zilch?

"......The bankers may have found the president's tone unsettling. Candidate Obama had been their guy, accepting vast amounts of Wall Street campaign money for his victories over Hillary Clinton and John McCain (Goldman Sachs executives ponied up $1 million, more than any other private source of funding in 2008). Obama far outraised his Republican rival, John McCain, on Wall Street--around $16 million to $9 million. As it turned out, Obama apparently actually meant what he said at that White House meeting--his administration effectively would stand between Big Finance and anything like a severe accounting.

.......

It may be, as the attorney general points out, that Wall Street was greedy, stupid, and immoral, without actually breaking any laws. But the powers of the Justice Department are immense, and a more aggressive prosecutor surely could have found cases to make. Black, the UMKC professor [and a Democrat - pete], says the conduct could well have violated federal fraud statutes--"securities fraud for false disclosures, wire and mail fraud for making false representations about the quality of the loans and derivatives they were selling, bank fraud for false representations to the regulators."
.....

.-.-.-.-.-.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newswee...o-justice.html

Pete

Administrations have always had a revolving door with Goldman Sachs Paulson was an alum.

If the Capitol was not on a hill I suppose Obama could always pull a Hercules and divert the Ptomac through Congress.

Now that I'd vote for :)

Pete

I would love to see some old testament dished to the scum who did there best to wreck the economy but the Senate and House gutted the firewall in between regular FDIC deposit banks and the speculative banking system with the Modernization of Banking act that replaced Glass Steagle. So all of us taxpayers are left holding the bag and they get off scot free. I think defenestrating a couple of dozen of 'em would scare 'em for a generation or two but greed is eternal as you said Pete. They're the best thieves in the house so locking them all up would leave us at a disadvantage in the big bad world.

That said, I think there needs to be a shake up in the financial system with some sacrificial goats tossed to the mob. Mebbe they'll toss Dimond to the bloodthirsty first? Then the Dick of Lost Wages Adelson.:rolleyes: