Bad Government Policy? Follow The Money

Money is influence and nowhere is that more true than in politics. In fact, if you want to see where bad policy decisions reign supreme, look no further than this list of influence peddlers. When you can’t compete fairly in the market, buy “regulation” to protect your interests. According to opensecrets.org, the top ten largest lobby groups of the past ten years were:

AT&T Inc
American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees
National Assn of Realtors
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
American Assn for Justice
Goldman Sachs
National Education Assn
Laborers Union
Service Employees International Union
Teamsters Union

Check here for the whole list: www.opensecrets.org

There are some other interesting facts to show up on this list.

One, anyone who tells you that unions have no influence anymore need to see this list. The money says otherwise. Six of the top ten lobby groups are government and private unions. We are turning into Greece.

Two, contrary to popular myth, the political porkers feeding off this cash tend to be Democrats, not “big money” Republicans. The Republicans are virtually split with Democrats on getting cash from AT&T and the National Assn of Realtors, but there isn't a clear pro-Republican lobby group until number 15 on the list, The American Medical Assn.

Now, to be fair, I distrust Republicans every bit as much as Democrats, so we should be every bit as worried about the communication, housing and medical industries as we are about the education and labor sectors. After all, pigs are pigs regardless of what political party trough they feed from.

Third, I find it surprising Goldman Sachs is way down at number six on the list. I guess they don’t have to buy government policy when so many of their former employees are now government hacks. Why buy what you already own?