35,000 lobbyists

This topic has 10 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 2 months ago by Dak.

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August 23, 2016 at 8:30 pm #51493

wv
Participant

I liked this picture.
w
v
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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/democracy_in_america_is_a_useful_fiction_20100124
Chris Hedges
….Corporations have 35,000 lobbyists in Washington and thousands more in state capitals that dole out corporate money to shape and write legislation. They use their political action committees to solicit employees and shareholders for donations to fund pliable candidates. The financial sector, for example, spent more than $5 billion on political campaigns, influence peddling and lobbying during the past decade, which resulted in sweeping deregulation, the gouging of consumers, our global financial meltdown and the subsequent looting of the U.S. Treasury. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America spent $26 million last year and drug companies such as Pfizer, Amgen and Eli Lilly kicked in tens of millions more to buy off the two parties. These corporations have made sure our so-called health reform bill will force us to buy their predatory and defective products. The oil and gas industry, the coal industry, defense contractors and telecommunications companies have thwarted the drive for sustainable energy and orchestrated the steady erosion of civil liberties. Politicians do corporate bidding and stage hollow acts of political theater to keep the fiction of the democratic state alive.

There is no national institution left that can accurately be described as democratic. Citizens, rather than participate in power, are allowed to have virtual opinions to preordained questions, a kind of participatory fascism as meaningless as voting on “American Idol.” Mass emotions are directed toward the raging culture wars. This allows us to take emotional stands on issues that are inconsequential to the power elite.

August 24, 2016 at 10:00 am #51522

Zooey
Moderator

That sums it up, doesn’t it?

August 24, 2016 at 3:25 pm #51538

sdram
Participant

Makes me envision video’s of crappy surfers trying to ride giant waves.

I had a history professor in college that one day jokingly exclaimed “Your parents ruin the first half of your life and then your kids ruin the second half!” I’m not sure why this comes to mind but the hopelessness of this story is kind of overwhelming.

So, here in my own little world I’m gonna do something to make me feel good this afternoon. I’ll take the available grandkids to the Zesto for ice cream.

August 24, 2016 at 4:54 pm #51549

wv
Participant

sdram wrote:

Makes me envision video’s of crappy surfers trying to ride giant waves.

I had a history professor in college that one day jokingly exclaimed “Your parents ruin the first half of your life and then your kids ruin the second half!” I’m not sure why this comes to mind but the hopelessness of this story is kind of overwhelming.

So, here in my own little world I’m gonna do something to make me feel good this afternoon. I’ll take the available grandkids to the Zesto for ice cream.

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Ok, but I bet Zesto has a gazillion lobbyists throwing
money and ice-cream around in Washington D.C.

I bet SD Ram has a pack of Lobbyists as well.

w
v

August 24, 2016 at 5:33 pm #51555

sdram
Participant

The Zesto does have a strange amount of popularity – probably crooked in some sweet innocent way. The grandkids lobby me to hit the Zesto every day they’re in town. They were offering coconut sherbert as the flavor of the week – I tried it for the last time.

I know a lobbyist for petroleum distributors(gas stations) in SD. She’s a Viking fan as well so that’s already two strikes. She invited me and the wife to the Governor’s inauguration a few years back. I politely thanked her and told her I probably wouldn’t fit in much.

August 24, 2016 at 6:13 pm #51559

wv
Participant

sdram wrote:

The Zesto does have a strange amount of popularity – probably crooked in some sweet innocent way. The grandkids lobby me to hit the Zesto every day they’re in town. They were offering coconut sherbert as the flavor of the week – I tried it for the last time.

I know a lobbyist for petroleum distributors(gas stations) in SD. She’s a Viking fan as well so that’s already two strikes. She invited me and the wife to the Governor’s inauguration a few years back. I politely thanked her and told her I probably wouldn’t fit in much.

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I am an unpaid, volunteer, lobbyist for PDOMACC (Peoples Democratic Organization of Misanthropes Against Corporate Capitalism).

I haven’t been invited anywhere, but I’ve raised over three dollars
for the Cause.

w
v

August 24, 2016 at 10:20 pm #51571

bnw
Blocked

wv wrote:

I haven’t been invited anywhere, but I’ve raised over three dollars
for the Cause.

Over your head? Did you wave them too? Or was it a still yet solemn and victorious hold?

The upside to being a Rams fan is heartbreak.

Sprinkles are for winners.

August 26, 2016 at 7:46 am #51630

Dak
Participant

Watched “Requiem for the American Dream” on Netflix last night, which is basically a little more of an hour of Chomsky breaking down how the American corporate elites work to control the political system and how it’s bad for democracy and society in general. My son was watching it with me when my wife told him he could go back on his phone if he wanted to. you know, to screw around with apps. He did just that. He missed the part about Manufacturing Consent and how the advertising agency has done a really good job at turning us into consumers more interested in striving for the next purchase than doing things like fighting for democracy.

At the end of the show, both of my kids came in and watched a little bit. My daughter asked me what it was about. And, I spent the next 15 minutes explaining some of Chomsky’s views and answering their questions. At ages 12 and 15, they’re fully aware that their generation may face most of their life dealing with environmental disasters. I explained how global warming is something we’ve known about since I was a kid, and did nothing about it because the people with money were busy thinking about making more money. It’s their generation that will have to change things, and at the same time, it may be too late for their generation.

At one point, I pointed out how it’s kind of ridiculous that we are a very wealthy nation, but have so many poor people suffering, and we do very little to help the poor, and instead blame them for their plight while the mega-wealthy get richer. My son was surprised that we are that wealthy, because we’re in debt as a nation. I told him, no, our rich people are very wealthy. And, pointed out how fucked up it is that our wealthiest sectors get a government bailout when they screw things up. As Chomsky says, this isn’t a capitalist state. In a capitalist state, big business doesn’t get government handouts.

It’s interesting how much kids can understand about this stuff if you explain it to them.

August 26, 2016 at 10:12 am #51633

Zooey
Moderator

Dak wrote:

At one point, I pointed out how it’s kind of ridiculous that we are a very wealthy nation, but have so many poor people suffering, and we do very little to help the poor, and instead blame them for their plight while the mega-wealthy get richer.

Yeah, I just encountered a “meme” on facebook pointing out that of all the Wall St. criminals, the only one in jail is Bernie Madoff. Would that be because – instead of robbing the 99% – he robbed the 1%?

August 26, 2016 at 11:07 am #51635
Billy_T
Participant
Dak,

That’s really well said.

Also, if you guys haven’t seen it yet, The Big Short is on Netflix too, and it’s excellent. I saw it the other day. Based on the Michael Lewis book.

IMO, anyone running for elected office should have to watch it, and take a quiz afterward. I’d say the same thing about Chomsky, but maybe that’s a bridge too far in this country. At least with The Big Short, they can get pulled into the story because it’s a bunch of capitalists involved, and they can kinda root for some of them. Until they finally realize what happened, etc.
- This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Billy_T.
August 26, 2016 at 1:05 pm #51644

Dak
Participant

I saw The Big Short, Billy. Watched it with my wife. It was good. My wife will watch mainstream entertainment about an aspect of the corporatist system — a symptom, if you will. Can’t get her interested in more in-depth views about the whole system from people like Chomsky, the late Howard Zinn, Naomi Klein, etc. If I had, she might have voted for Sanders instead of Hillary.

Zooey, that’s a good point about the only Wall Street criminal going to prison was the guy who went after the people with money. Makes sense. Who cares about the unwashed herd? Do you know that a St. Louis Cardinals front office exec got nearly 4 years in prison for “hacking” into the Houston Astros’ scouting information? (I think he just guessed the password used by the guy who used to work for the Cardinals.) He was busted on the same laws that target corporations from stealing information from other corporations. He probably got off easy.

One other thing that I hadn’t thought much about until watching Requiem. The term “anti-American” referring to someone who opposes state power. Chomsky says that’s a unique term here, because no other free nation uses that type of phrasing to insult someone. He said that Italians would laugh at you if you called them “anti-Italian” for standing up to the state. And, elsewhere, the same thing, that it would be considered a joke. But, in totalitarian states, using that term, such as “anti-Soviet” is a big deal and brands you as a traitor to the state. Thought that was interesting.
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