naked capitalism

doctoRx says:

Remember the Rezko/Northern Trust/Obama land deal re young Mr. Obama’s enlarged backyard? How when questioned, then Pres-candidate Obama called it a bonehead deal? How about a corrupt deal in which an odious slumlord purchased political influence from an anointed One?

The man never had shame, never demonstrated integrity.

The Establishment (lately led by Big Finance, but that will change on its own timeline) controls both major parties, the major difference between which is their stance on Roe v. Wade.

Having been lied to and cheated by, repeatedly, by political and business leaders alike throughout the last decade, voters have finally come to realize all we have is “Tastes great!”/”Less filling” major parties: two flavors of the same overpriced low-quality beer. (Thus the switch to the Tea Party: they are abstaining.)

The public is the “mark” at the poker game who is finally realizing that it’s the mark; the PTB knew it all the time; but now they’ve got most of the money.

One part of the solution: leave the credit game. Avoid all debt except traditional such such as loans for education that prepares one for a specific job, a plain-vanilla mortgage, and if necessary an auto loan that allows one to get to work or school. That vacation, flat screen TV, car for the teenaged child, etc: No.

DownSouth says:

Hannah Arendt believed that civil disobedience could serve as an antidote to lobbyists, and also pointed out the great dangers that lobbyists (and civil disobedients) can pose to a democratic society:

It is my contention that civil disobedients are nothing but the latest form of voluntary association, and that they are thus quite in tune with the oldest traditions of the country. What could better describe them than Tocqueville’s words “The citizens who form the minority associate in order, first, to show their numerical strength and so to diminish the moral power of the majority”? To be sure, it has been a long time since “moral and intellectual associations” could be found among voluntary associations which, on the contrary, seem to have been formed only for the protection of special interests, of pressure groups and the lobbyists who represented them in Washington. I do not doubt that the dubious reputation of the lobbyists is deserved, just as the dubious reputation of the politicians in this country has frequently been amply deserved. However, the fact is that the pressure groups are also voluntary associations, and that they are recognized in Washington, where their influence is sufficiently great for them to be called “an assistant government”; indeed, the number of registered lobbyists exceeds by far the number of congressmen. This public recognition is no small matter, for such “assistance” was no more foreseen in the Constitution and its First Amendment than freedom of association as a form of political action.

We need not go into the old debates about the glories and the dangers of equality, the good and the evil of democracy, to understand that all evil demons could be let loose if the original contractual model of the associations—mutual promises with the moral imperative pacta sunt servanda—should be lost. Under today’s circumstances, this could happen if these groups, like their counterparts in other countries, were to substitute ideological commitments, political or other, for actual goals.
–Hannah Arendt, Crises of the Republic

I believe that in the modern think tank–which are extremely ideological–perhaps Arendt’s worst nightmares have come true.

The irony inherent in Tocqueville’s observations should also come as no surprise. Always the champion of the aristocracy, and always skeptical of the entire democratic project, he, like Alexander Hamiliton, saw no danger in voluntary associations as long as they remained exclusively in the hands of the higher classes.

ardano says:

I do not lobby currently, but have in the past; disclosure is important.

Lobbying is an essential part of the legislative process. Interest groups are NOT singular in nature. Labor unions, well known associations like National Education, (NEA,)to name a few, have extensive lobby staffs.

One man’s special interest is another man’s irreplaceable advocate.

The Administration has a huge staff of…lobbyists! Same with all federal agencies. There are many lobbyists who work for Treasury, The Fed and The SEC. They may not be called lobbyists, but their role is IDENTICAL TO NON-GOVERNMENT LOBBYISTS.

Is Obama guilty of hypocrisy on lobbying? Unquestionably. Consider what would have happened on many legislative issues if Members and Senators only received data and analysis from government lobbyists. With all the talk of disclosure, which Obama constantly trumpets, how about new rules regarding disclosure of meetings between Administration lobbyists and Members/Senators.