Following Tech's Money Trail In Washington 61
snydeq writes "Having outlayed $111 million to gain political influence in 2009, the tech industry is clearly learning how to play the lobbying game, writes InfoWorld's Bill Snyder. And while longtime lobbying stalwart General Motors nearly outspent the tech industry on its own, the rise of lobbying among tech giants, especially those under antitrust scrutiny, is staggering. Google, which has been drawing interest from the feds over its online advertising business, has increased its efforts twelve-fold in the past four years. And while Google frames its sudden increased interest in Washington as a matter of growth inspiring greater civic responsibility, the company may find itself sucked further into Washington, now that it is party to an international spat involving both the US and Chinese governments. Among those that top the list of tech lobbyists, Oracle, Intel, and Microsoft all have come under scrutiny in the past year, with Intel accused of monopolistic practices and Oracle requiring sign off on its merger with Sun."
Re:The corruption is scary. (Score:5, Informative)
The U.S. government consistently spends money it doesn't have, and is has more debt per citizen than any country in the history of the world.
Wrong. [wikipedia.org]
Re:The corruption is scary. (Score:3, Informative)
The U.S. government has 6 times the percentage of its citizens in prison of any other country in the history of the world.
Well, Most other oppressive governments just kill their opposition.
Re:The corruption is scary. (Score:3, Informative)
The U.S. government is very corrupt. The government is not about what's sensible, but about who has the most money.
You're not honestly trying to imply that the US is unique in that regard.
The U.S. government has killed or caused the death of more than 11 million people since the end of the 2nd world war. All of that killing was apparently for money.
You're a plant by the government to make those of us who don't trust the government look dumber and more paranoid, aren't you?
The U.S. government has 6 times the percentage of its citizens in prison of any other country in the history of the world.
The politicians are following the citizens on that one. Locking everyone up for minor, non-violent offences is so inefficient, it offends even the most bureaucratic public servants, there are other, cheaper and easier ways of making the uninformed public think you're doing the job you said you would than actually getting "tougher on crime." If you say you're going to get tougher on crime, lock up more people, and build more jails, you're going to eventually piss off your own base because you've spent too much money on it and have to raise taxes.
But now it's become entrenched, if you say to the public "Hey, we really don't need to lock all these people up, this guy stole a blanket and can't pay bail, who cares if he never shows up to court, it's costing us about a thousand dollars a week in taxpayer money to keep him in jail, over a matter of 10 bucks, it's just stupid," then you'll be labeled soft on crime by your opponents, and get thrown out next election.
(not to make you feel sorry for the pols, just saying this isn't the government's choice.)
Re:The corruption is scary. (Score:2, Informative)
The wiki data is ~7-8 months old, and we have generated a fair amount of external debt in that time. As an example, our debt is now greater than the GDP, whereas in the chart it is shown as 95% of GDP. We're moving up the list!
Also, although the external debt is the most worrisome from a number of perspectives, the internal debt is also significant and not included on the wiki page.
In addition to all that, there have been a number of write-downs of debt in the past two years where large sums of money just vanished off the books of corporations, banks, and government-controlled agencies like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If properly accounted for, that could add trillions to the debt load, some of which is internal, and some of which is external.
The wiki page is therefore probably incomplete, even if it is an accurate snapshot at the times the data entries were made.
Re:Just what we need in DC... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Just what we need in DC... (Score:3, Informative)
I think we need to work for a constitutional amendment, to basically say a corporation is NOT a person with 'speech rights'.
Good luck with that.
I think we need a number of other constitutional amendments, too, including one specifically guaranteeing a right to individual privacy - but I'm not holding my breath, because, according to Article 5, there are two and only two mechanisms in the U.S. constitution for amending same:
1. Congress (both houses) must pass a proposed amendment by a 2/3 majority, and that amendment must then be ratified by 3/4 of the individual state legislatures or state constitutional conventions, or
2. On petition by 2/3 of the states' legislatures, a national constitutional convention can be convened for the purpose of proposing amendments, which then must be ratified as above.
Note that Congress - which is the body the amendment you're proposing to regulate thereby - is unlikely in extremis to pass such an amendment even by majority vote, much less by a supermajority, and that a constitutional convention isn't going to happen, either.
Thomas Jefferson opined, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants." I'd say that nowadays the blood of lobbyists and machine politicians would make a good substitute "natural manure."
Trust me, your mileage won't vary.