Thanks to “Opensecrets.org”, we now know that special interest groups paid Washington Lobbying firms a total of $3.2 billion in 2008.
$3.2 billion in one year for lobbying Congress? That’s fantastic!
That represents a 13.7% growth over last years revenues, and a 13% increase in a purely consumptive industry is exactly what this country needs right now, isn’t it?
After all, when the federal government is handing out billions of our tax dollars every day, who else but paid lobbyists could serve the vital function of getting their clients a piece of the payout?
I was so impressed by the ability of the Lobbyists to pad…errr, I mean increase…their bottom line in a declining economy that I just had to pull out my trusty abacus and play around with some numbers:
First, remember that there are 535 members of Congress (435 Representatives and 100 Senators) and Congress was in session for 184 days last year. Apply simple division to those numbers and you get a fascinating breakdown of the $3.2 billion that Washington Lobbyists "earned” last year:
1) Special Interest Groups spent $17.4 million Per Day on lobbying each and every day Congress was in session. (Read that again slowly and let that sink in)
2) Special Interest Groups spent $32,523 per each congressman each and every day that Congress was in session.
See what I mean by fantastic? While you and I have to go to work every day to take care of our families, we can rest assured that our very own Congressman is getting schmoozed…errr, I mean informed…by a daily dose of $32,000 worth of lobbyists whose only function is to convince Congress to steer our tax dollars and other benefits into their clients coffers.
How stimulating!
And speaking of “stimulus” and “good news about the economy” here’s one final set of facts for you to get excited about today:
Fact #1 - The proponents of the “Stimulus Package” tell us that the government will be able to “kick start” our economy by printing and spending money they don’t currently have. This idea is based on theories known as “Keynesian economics”
As President Obama put it ““We understand that we’ve got to provide a blood infusion to the patient right now to make sure that the patient is stabilized. And that means that we can’t worry short term about the deficit”
Fact #2 – Since January 2007, our Congress has authorized an average of $2.8 billion in deficit spending per day each and every day. That adds up to $2.03 TRILLION dollars of deficit spending over the past 2 years.
So after looking at Fact #1 and Fact #2, riddle me this:
Since over the past 2 years we printed and spent $2.03 trillion that we didn’t have…which is textbook Keynesian economics…then why isn’t our economy booming right now?
Sincerely,
Frankie Ray
Don't forget to check out: http://www.ourcaucus.com <--(explains how and why our government has been hijacked by the special interest groups, and what YOU can do about it.)
