If This Were Vegas, There’d Be A Lot of Broken Kneecaps
General Motors isn’t the only taxpayer-owned company still pouring millions of our dollars into lobbying operations. There are a whole host of companies out there using your money to get even more of your money from Congress.
Some of the biggest banks are also among the more than 30 that have already moved to repay funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the formal name for the bailout package Congress passed last October. More than $70 billion has been repaid to the federal government.
Six of the eight banks spent more to try to sway lawmakers in the first half of 2009 than over the same period in 2008, before the worst of the financial crisis took hold. The eight banks include: Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, State Street and Bank of New York Mellon.
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Chrysler has continued its outside lobbying contracts after establishing itself as a legally new company during the bankruptcy proceeding. Chrysler spent $1.42 million in the first half of the year, compared with $2.78 million a year ago. GMAC spent $660,000 this year, compared with $1.15 million a year ago.
It’s like these companies are sitting at a poker table, having bribed the pit boss into slipping them a handful of chips so they can make themselves a small fortune. If that were to happen in Vegas, I guarantee you that the streets would be filled with large men in ill-fitting suits looking to retrieve the stolen loot.
The only big bailed-out company that has gotten completely out of the lobbying business, according to this article, is AIG. Isn’t that something? The company most vilified by Congress during this whole bailout business is the only one that isn’t spending money on lobbyists. I’m sure it’s only coincidental that Senator Patty Murray, who got so excited about AIG’s legal bonus payments is so quiet right now about the $20 million these companies have spent on lobbying thus far this year. Perhaps if AIG has tucked a wad of cash into her pocket, Senator Murray would have gotten less excited about what they were doing.
It’s enough to make a guy wonder how much money members of Congress are getting, indirectly, from the TARP.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Capita-What Again?
- Good News! GM Won’t Spend Quite so Much of Our Money on Lobbyists!
- Hiding the UAW Behind a Giant Strawman Isn’t a Help.
Category: The Economy and Your Money, The Rise of the Nanny State
