Best Bailout Money Can Buy

Could the need for real and aggressive campaign finance reform be any clearer than it is now?

The Bush Administration continues to hawk its $700 billion bonanza bailout for Wall Street with little oversight, accountability, or justice for the people on Main Street who would be picking up the tab. Why? Maybe because – as Nick Nyhart, President of Public Campaign points out – since 1990 the financial, insurance and real estate sectors have spent $2.06 billion dollars on federal political contributions.

And the money is flowing more rapidly now than ever before.

Hard money totals for these sectors during the 2000 election cycle – when the Glass-Steagall Act was formally repealed and the regulatory firewall between investment banks, commercial banks, and insurance companies was brought down – totaled nearly $200 million. With the accounting for the 2008 cycle only partially in, those sectors have already upped the ante to over $300 million. They have supported John McCain and Barack Obama roughly evenly with $42 million in contributions.

With this kind of money deluge, it's no surprise that despite the fact that it's Wall Street who's begging Main Street for $700 billion, a lobbyist like Scott Talbott of the Financial Services Roundtable still has the audacity to warn that "any effort to attach other provisions [to the original proposal] would be a deal breaker"; or to tell the Wall Street Journal, "We're opposed to attaching provisions that will turn the bill into a Christmas tree. Building a bridge won't have an immediate impact." (Really, Scott? Tell that to someone who has just lost her home, or is choosing between paying for food or medicine, and might get a job building that bridge.)

"As Congress debates what to ask for on behalf of consumers in return for the bailout, citizens should demand of Congress that they get their government back through Congressional adoption of publicly financed ‘clean' elections," Nyhart told me.

Once again, the people are way ahead of Congress on this. A Zogby poll taken this weekend as the crisis unfolded showed that 82% of Americans "said that political parties, presidential candidates and candidates for the US Congress should be banned from receiving financial contributions from lobbyists or other representatives from those industries that are vital to the financial and national security of the country."

Nyhart pointed out that the cost of public financing is a small price to pay compared to the $700 billion bailout – roughly $2 billion annually for Congressional elections and even less for the presidential campaign. (And for a look at what else could be done with $700 billion check this out.)

If there was somehow still a need for incontrovertible evidence as to how the people's interests are relegated to big corporate interests in our gamed system, here it is with the Bailout Bonanza. This is a moment to seize and say never again – it's time to cut the cord between the lobbyists and the Best Congress Money Can Buy.

Comments (9)

1. Also, as noted on other threads....

   ask the GOP co-author of McCain/Feingold why HIS campaign manager is now "unavailable for press interviews"?

   Posted by Maskdelta at 09/24/2008 @ 2:53pm

2. McCain just announced he's "suspending his campaign" and wants to delay the debates, so that he can return to Washington for a "leadership conference" on the bail-out and the economy!

   hot off AP and the Sludge Report!

   Posted by Maskdelta at 09/24/2008 @ 3:12pm

3. Lets suspend the election while we are at it too.

   What hogwash! What frickin posturing from McLie.

   Posted by OneVote at 09/24/2008 @ 3:20pm

4. >>>If there was somehow still a need for incontrovertible evidence as to how the people's interests are relegated to big corporate interests in our gamed system, here it is with the Bailout Bonanza. This is a moment to seize and say never again – it's time to cut the cord between the lobbyists and the Best Congress Money Can Buy.<<<

   There is no question that Paulson is doing Goldman Sachs bidding, as they are struggling for their very survival.

   The "stretch" Paulson is making is that if "Goldman Sachs fails, so goes the US economy.

   This REALLY is a stretch!

   Similar arguments were made concerning Salomon Brothers, Countrywide, Bear Sterns, and Lehman Brothers, and ALL of these guys pushing this nonsense are engaging in the worse fearmongering possible on behalf of these "clients".

   CUT THE CORD AND CUT IT NOW!!!

   Posted by Metteyya at 09/24/2008 @ 3:25pm

5. What hogwash! What frickin posturing from McLie.

   Posted by OneVote at 09/24/2008 @ 3:20pm

   Yep, cut and run is the McCain campaign slogan now. Gee, you GOP folks must be damned proud of your boy. When the going gets tough, cut and run. lol

   Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/24/2008 @ 4:52pm

6. The only point at which campaign finance reform will be enacted is the point at which the power that rules - the rich and their "officials" in the political class - perceive a threat to their own dominion if they do not enact some sort of reform.

   Posted by Zero at 09/24/2008 @ 3:37pm

   You're probably right zero. Unfortunately, the only thing that woke people up last go around was a complete market crash. That may end up being the case this go around as well. Until then, they'll continue to drive their SUV's, max their credit cards and praise Sarah Palin for being such a Christian, righteous leader. McCain of course was a POW so his leadership can not be questioned at all. Granted, he was a POW damn near 50 years ago and is presently a multi-millioniare who has received money from AIG, but he's a POW war hero damn it!!! Screw the economy....vote McCain / Palin.

   Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/24/2008 @ 4:57pm

7. Posted by RedRiver_. at 09/24/2008 @ 4:56pm

   Go ahead Rio, keep reaching for something to get a hold of. Something might stick, but there's so many skeletons in McCain's closet that he can't keep track of them. Hell, he can't remember half of them let alone keep track of them. He'll be just grand in a debate with Obama...an attorney!!!

   Posted by Wolfgang1 at 09/24/2008 @ 5:12pm

8. HELSINKI, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Finland's central bank cut on Tuesday its economic growth forecasts for the Nordic country for this year and next due to a deteriorating global economy.

   I guess Lemminkainen isn't going to ride to our rescue this year! Sorry KVH.

   Posted by sntauri at 09/24/2008 @ 6:17pm

9. What I think is interesting about this article is that Scheer does not recognize that Democrats have been in charge of all the Congressional banking and finance committees for the last two years, since BEFORE the meltdown. He never asks what the hell they've been doing.

   Chris Dodd, who he compliments, was the chair of the Senate Banking Committee. What the hell has HE been doing? Other than getting money from Fannie and Freddie executives, former Clintonistas who were raking in millions. There's a river of dirty money there that flows to lots of prominent Democrats, from former Clinton insiders, to Obama advisors, to John Kerry, to Chris Dodd himself.

   I'm very disappointed in Scheer for leaving these observations and questions out, and based on the fact that he's a very intelligent and thorough guy, I have to conclude that it was deliberate. It's too bad, because it's a disservice to his readers.

   Posted by jimmylove at 09/24/2008 @ 8:55pm