Our Congressmen and Women As Mouthpieces

One of the dirtiest secrets in Washington, DC is that most legislation is written by lobbyists. Environmental lobbyists sit in rooms with Congressional staffers and are probably re-working climate change legislation. Health care insurers are sitting closely with with Senate staffers strategizing how to re-work the House's health care bill that passed a week ago.

So it should not be a surprise that Genetech lobbyists wrote floor speeches for both Republican and Democratic Congressmen and Women to enter into the Congressional Record during the health care votes last week. Word for word that the corporate lobbyists wrote were entered into the record.

It's so surprising there has yet to be a revolution in this country. We are no longer that different than when King George "owned" this country. His courtesans whispered in his ears about great profits to be made in the new world, they controlled his reign and rule. Our "rulers" are not that much different.

Trying to Close the Barn Door When the Cow Has Already Left

Well, it seems to me that the proposed legislation and subsequent regulation on the financial industry is like trying to close the barn door once the cow left. And it seems that the financial industry is winning this battle.

The AIG Debacle

And now, more news that really shouldn't surprise us.  AIG, the recipient of the largest amount of our money, taxpayer dollars, to allegedly bail them out of financial demise, is giving $165 million in bonuses to the very same Lords of Wall Street who sold the large insurance company on participating in credit default swaps.  In an amazing display of "deaf" the Chairman of AIG said: "we need to give bonuses to keep good people."  Predictably there is a populist uproar, fueled by the media who is thoroughly enjoying this type of news.  The villain wear pinstripes the good guys wear blue collars, it makes for easy stories.

In my email in box this morning came an inquiry from one of my friends who I consider extremely smart.  And his question, more an editorial than a genuine question, wondered why it is Congress (and I will edit here and add the Administration) is unable to write in conditions on the federal bail out money.  He said, with Congress filled with so many lawyers, you would think they could write contracts with conditions (and to the six folks on the email many lawyer jokes swirled around between us).   

He's right, of course.  But that "failure" to condition the bail out money on how it is used is not negligent.  Follow the money and follow the lobbyists.  You see, we can have all our populist anger we want.  Huff and puff.  And the Members of Congress will now, almost like a well directed play, call for hearings, yell at executives of AIG, demand someone's head.  But really, those same Members of Congress, presidential candidates, and even wanna-bees currently working in the Administration, get lots of money in their campaign coffers from AIG, Citibank, Bank of America.  Even now.  

So, this latest brouhaha, well, it's for show.  It gets us distracted.  It gets us upset.  Meanwhile, bankruptcy cram-down  provisions get watered down (which could really help troubled homeowners, you know, those blue collared folks), the mark-to-market accounting provisions that actually help tell individual investors what banks are solvent are probably going away...in other words, while the populist anger is storming off to the side, the real action to help us, is not happening.  

Score?  Banks and financial institutions - 10  Individuals - 0.

Get angry.  But keep calling and yelling at your Congressman or woman.  Tell them you're watching.  Not the showy hearings or press conferences, but their votes on issues that will actually help you, your friends, your kids, your neighbors.

Where's Your Lobbyist?

Recently I read a short article about transit planning in Seattle.  The commentator said that he was at a meeting where the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) was unveiling yet another "street diet" where the city removes one lane of traffic from use by automobiles and devotes it to bicycles.  This "street diet" thing has been going on for several years and on several major arterials.  Trust me, it bogs up traffic enormously.  But, here is the point: when the commentator asked the SDOT representative about who speaks against the "street diets," the SDOT employee said: "I speak with a lobbyist from Cascade Bicycle Club everyday.  Where is your lobbyist?"

Holy Cow Batman!  You mean we all need lobbyists to speak to government?  Much less to be listened?  The irony of that encounter is that it happened at an open house where SDOT was supposedly listening to input on the street diet.  But we all know that so-called public meetings are really a way of "letting the public let off steam" even though the decision is already made.

Today, the Obama Administration announced that it will begin describing it's ideas for regulatory reform of the financial sector.  Of course, this means everything, I assume, from how different countries interact financially to how we monitor individual financial transactions in this country.  And, I wonder, who will be speaking to the Pooh-bahs of decision making on these financial reforms?  Certainly not the average American who was foreclosed out of their house or the retired couple struggling to stay afloat when their so-called safe investments went south this month.

Indeed, the financial sector lobbyists in Washington, DC alone ensure that politicians and their staffs are well feted and their campaigns stuffed with cash.  The average person doesn't stand a chance, much less the non-profits based in DC who purportedly advocate for the "little guy."

In all of the economic restructuring that is occurring, I believe the examination and proposals to monitor and regulate the financial industry, although late in being thrust into the policy spheres, is critical.  Each of us should pay attention.  Find allies or organizations to represent you views.  Call your Congressman or Senator.  Because how the financial sector is restructured will really be the crux of our economic security in the decades to come.  We can no longer rely on the Lords of Wall Street to do what is right but on the other hand we can not stifle our ingenuity.  Just know, however, that the banks, investment houses, mortgage lenders, credit card companies, real estate industry, are swarming Capital Hill, they're calling presidential staff members, having drinks with friends of Barack Obama, writing checks for campaigns.  

We need to pay attention or else things we care about will be "street dieted" because we couldn't talk to anyone every day.

More Thoughts on Compensation

First, here is a link to a video of President Obama discussing the salary caps he ordered on firms (banks and auto industry so far) that receive bail-out money from the federal government.

But I have some more thoughts about this issue.  As I type this, lobbyists for every single business group (oops, I almost said industry group, but we really don't have much industry in this country, so...) are walking the halls of state legislatures and Congress, seeking more and more tax credits or breaks.  Their usual song is if we don't get more tax credits or breaks, we'll up and leave for another country.  Business lobbyists are whispering in the ears of city council members, mayors, and county executives, asking for incentives, heck, even cash, to keep their businesses from moving to another location which will be willing to offer them land, money, and God knows what else.  I would guess that nine times out of ten, these businesses will get what they are asking for.  Meanwhile, the rest of us, you know, the ones that don't have a lobbyist working the halls, whispering in ears, we get tax hikes to pay for the tax credits the businesses get.  And I am not talking about small businesses, I am talking about Boeing, Microsoft, Google, IBM...

Meanwhile the executives of those companies continue to pull in millions of dollars in compensation.  

So I would ask, aren't the tax credits and incentives that we give those companies similar to the cash the federal government is giving banks and the auto industry?  Shouldn't state governments, heck, even Congress, begin demanding that if the corporations want special favors then they have to give something back other than staying in some state for a few years then bailing anyway?  And, oh, does anyone every evaluate whether they are successful?  Millions in tax credits to Boeing and they are laying off, not retaining employees in Washington State.

Nope, I think it is time that we examine the whole cocoon that has woven around American corporations.  It's a myth that there is a free market.  Each and every company has become a, to use the crass term from the Reagan era, welfare queens, driving in their limos to the welfare office, which happens to be the legislative bodies, and asking for hand outs without having to make their business actually work.  We cut off women who weren't looking for work from welfare, I think it is time we cut off corporations that are not working for us.  We seek further restrictions on executive salaries (I frankly don't buy the hiring the best help, because they sure weren't doing a good job for the past few years, now were they?  Plus, where are the "smart ones" going to go anyway?), we increase their taxes, and we hold them to the fire on environmental and labor issues.  

Maybe we'll begin to have businesses that actually produce quality products and that succeed.