FIRE Lobbying and whats wrong with Washington DC

[seanm123]

Here is a good read on the day to day lobbying wars on which 3.5 Billion spent annually inside the Beltway and why the people are no longer properly represented.



Quoted>

"The swipe fee debate, as mundane as it may appear, is emblematic of how Washington works today -- and helps explain why Congress hasn’t passed an appropriations bill in years, can’t write an annual budget, is flirting with defaulting on the country’s debt and effectively gave up on job-creation efforts in the midst of a brutal economic downturn. There are, to be sure, a variety of reasons that Congress is zombified, but one of the least understood explanations is also one of the simplest: The city is too busy refereeing disputes between major corporate interest groups.The swipe fee debate, as mundane as it may appear, is emblematic of how Washington works today -- and helps explain why Congress hasn’t passed an appropriations bill in years, can’t write an annual budget, is flirting with defaulting on the country’s debt and effectively gave up on job-creation efforts in the midst of a brutal economic downturn. There are, to be sure, a variety of reasons that Congress is zombified, but one of the least understood explanations is also one of the simplest: The city is too busy refereeing disputes between major corporate interest groups."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_853574.html

[Slimprofits]

Re: FIRE Lobbying and whats wrong with Washington DC

One frustrated moderate Democratic senator asks to remain anonymous so he can speak freely about his legislative education. “I’m surprised at how much of our time is spent trying to divide up the spoils between various economic interests. I had no idea. I thought we’d be focused on civil liberties, on education policy, energy policy and so on,” the senator says. “The fights down here can be put in two or three categories: The big greedy bastards against the big greedy bastards; the big greedy bastards against the little greedy bastards; and some cases even the other little greedy bastards against the other little greedy bastards.”

hahahaha. what Washington was this guy paying attention to before running for office?

[lektrode]

Re: FIRE Lobbying and whats wrong with Washington DC

hahahaha. what Washington was this guy paying attention to before running for office?

when we've seen the DNC recently chaired by people like Dr Demento Dean?

how on earth _anyone_ who's conscious today can even imagine that the dems have any answers for ANY of the issues we face today, simply must believe in the tooth fairy and santa claus!

not that the pubs are any better mind you, but at least they have people like ron paul, who are least mouthing the words of a sanity-based discussion going forward....

but while the dems tweak their BS to appeal to the countless razor-thin slivers of the electorate that make up their one big fat special-interest porkfest, with the single-issue driven groups of 'activists' whos kneejerk reactionary politics tend to revolve around 'the culture wars' and solving social problems their good-intentioned legislative initiatives have foisted upon the rest of us over the years?

the lamestream media breathlessly focuses on what????

the royal wedding....

and the donald's 'campaign' to settle the birther's charade once n for all....

this would all be hilarious if it wasnt so pathetic - meanwhile the only real question is: will we ever see gold _under_ 1500 again?