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Political Hay
Boom Town and Bill Moyers
Hannity special spotlights Extractor Economics: America’s real privileged few as economy shrinks.
Bill Moyers and Extractor Economics.
The economy shrinks. And the Constitution is under liberal assault yet again.
We’ll get to Mr. Moyers — and ex-US Senator Russ Feingold in a moment. So too the shrinking economy, as announced yesterday by the Commerce Department.
But first: What exactly is the “Extractor Class” — and who are they?
They are liberals who gain wealth by using the government to take your money. To (excuse the imagery) milk you like a cow. And make themselves rich.
Last week Sean Hannity did an entire special called Boom Town, spotlighting Extractor Economics. Working with filmmaker Stephen Bannon and author Peter Schweizer (Schweizer has written Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, and Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison), Hannity zeroed in on what just what Obama’s “fair share” redistributionist economics really means.
To wit: You get poor, Washington gets rich.
While the economy shrinks, while the poverty rate soars in the rest of America, the nation’s overall unemployment rate rests yet again at 7.8%, the black unemployment rate jumps to 14%, and the number of Americans desperate for food stamps keeps rising to record levels not seen in almost fifty years — Hannity’s special zeroes in on the blunt fact that Obama’s Washington is awash in Lamborghini dealerships, fine wine, expensive housing, and hoity-toity restaurants.
What drives Washington’s soaring affluence — an affluence denied to the rest of America? What is taking your money and redistributing it to a relative handful of people inside the Washington Beltway?
Let’s take the Hannity story and move the ball a bit further.
How does this game work? How does the money taken directly from your pocket — your paycheck, your savings, your investments, your company — fatten individual wallets in one of the biggest liberal redistributionist scams of the day?
Let’s run through some current news stories involving Washington and see what’s happening.
We will start with:
• The National Labor Relations Board
You remember this story from a few days back. A federal appeals
court ruled that President Obama violated the Constitution by
making recess appointments of three members of the NLRB — when the
U.S. Senate wasn’t in recess. The lawsuit was filed by a group of
people — among them Mark Levin’s Landmark Legal Foundation — who
are determined to see that Obama is called on his repeated and
increasing attacks on the Constitution.
But for the moment, put the issue of the Constitution aside.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (134) | Leave a comment
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Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 7:12AM
Funny, I thought Koch industries, Raytheon, Boeing, Halliburton, KBR, Monsanto, General Mills, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, McDonnell Douglas, and Bechtel , and K-Street, just to name a few, got rich off of their ties to the government. I guess having 7-8 figure salaries from corrupt government contracts and subsidies is much better than a 6 figure salary in the government.
And you know what, we need a zero percent corporate tax rate, lower taxes on the rich, and we'll raise funds by implementing high sales taxes!!!
***The Republican plan to screw over the poor and middle class***
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 7:29AM
Purpie/arnie
1. Why was Michele's salary increased from $125,000 per year to $325,000 per year at the Chicago hospital after Senator Obama requested a one million dollar earmark for the hospital?
a) Why was Michele's job eliminated after she left because O won the 2008 election?
2. Why is Obama giving, free, to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt 20 F-16's, and 200 Abrams tanks?
a) what country has the Muslim Brotherhood sworn to eliminate?
b) which race/group did Muslim Brotherhood Morsi say descended from apes and pigs?
Answer correctly and honestly and we may respond to your comments
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 8:08AM
Funny, I actually tried to answer your questions CJW. But it seems a combination of Jews, Israel, weapons, Iran, Iraq, & Reagan set off the spam blocker. Uh-oh.
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 1:52PM
Purparnie the Village Idiot
The DNC nor Baghdad Bob Jay Carney have sent you any emails on this, so you are on your own and have no answer.
You are permanently banished to Purpland, and will be treated accordingly
AlanAnti-RoveCheneyBrooks | 1.31.13 @ 9:43AM
"Funny, I thought Koch industries, Raytheon, Boeing, Halliburton, KBR, Monsanto, General Mills, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, McDonnell Douglas, and Bechtel , and K-Street, just to name a few, got rich off of their ties to the government. I guess having 7-8 figure salaries from corrupt government contracts and subsidies is much better than a 6 figure salary in the government."
Arn,
Look how CJW straight off brought up Michelle Obama (not, say, Al Gore). As if the wife of the president is a Cornelius Vanderbilt attempting to monopolise the rails. Perhaps CJW thinks Michelle is a potential Bernie Madoff?
Maybe CJW would like Michelle and the president to eat black eyed peas off paper plates?
Pecos Pete| 1.31.13 @ 9:53AM
Stupid Communist Village Idiot Alan Brooks: Stuck on Stupid.
If public employees, like Barry and Michelle, eat off of paper plates then they would be fulfilling their fiduciary duties to the taxpayers to manage our assets for the benefit of the taxpayer rather than for his or her own profit.
As for black eyed peas, what's wrong with them? They are better for you than arugula and tofu, and taste better when mixed with a proper chili. Seems to me that your comment is racist.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:11PM
What exactly is the "Extractor Class" - and who are they? They are liberals who gain wealth by using the government to take your money. To (excuse the imagery) milk you like a cow. And make themselves rich.
In other words: Democrat Politicians. One need only look at the Examples of Multi-Millionaire Harry Ried, and Multi-Millionaire Diane Feinstein.
Harry Ried made his Bones as a Small Town Country Lawyer in One Horse Searchlight Nevada. A Dirt Road nowhere, with ones Street Light, one Traffic Light, no Stop Signs, and a small number of Retired Prostitutes from Reno, gathered around each of them.
He's the guy who Buys Property near the Highway for peanuts, and then sells it for Millions, after he pushes through Government Funds to build an Exit Ramp right next to his Vacant Lot.
He's the guy who receives $3,000,000 from a "Constituent" years after they Paid him for the Land.
Diannie Oakly Feinstein steered Millions of Dollars to Companies her Husband had Business Dealings with, from her Seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. A Committee that she left after her Husband no longer did Business with these Companies.
I could go on, all day.
But, is that really neccessary?
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 2:35PM
Senor Pete
Great insight. The Village Idiot a/k/a purpie, arnie, purparnie, brooks, assume that a black person eats black eyed peas off a paper plate, and that this must be bad. They are too stupid to realize they are insulting black people or even anyone who like black eyed peas. They view blacks as inferior needing the protection of superior liberals like themselves.
This is the same comment Purp the Village Idiot made when he said we cannot even beat a black man.
They are racist and stupid.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:46PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's Tuesday Column.
Tom Kyba| 1.31.13 @ 11:19AM
Ah look, Alan has found a new comrade(assuming it's not himself) after his own heart. Reading along as the two of them become comrades-in-arms is so invigorating. I am filled with feelings of goodness and brotherhood. You fellas are too cute. I wish I could pinch your rosy little cheeks. So adorable.
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 1:55PM
Brooks
This is stupid even by your standards.
Ok, why did Algore sell to Aljazeera?
If you were paying attention, we criticized Algore for this.
loulou| 1.31.13 @ 10:32AM
I just want to know whether Moochelle got her salary increase before or after she was forced to give up her law license. And why did she give up her law license?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:24PM
Don't you wanna know why her "Job" disappeared from that Hospital, the day she left?
Nancy in NC| 1.31.13 @ 8:08AM
The logic of the left: compare bad behavior to bad behavior to justify bad behavior.
What the left fails to comprehend is the elected in Washington are using their position to enrich themselves and their families off the backs of those who elect them. Lobbyists, per se, are not the problem but those politicians that are for sale is the problem.
What we need are honest men and women in Washington. That is unlikely to happen as we have so few honest people in America anymore. And the few honest ones are reluctant to go to Washington as they know what a cesspool it is and don't want to wallow in the sewage.
The corruption in Washington is reflective of our culture and a ignorant and uninformed electorate. They keep sending their bottom dwellers back to the swamp.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 8:38AM
Nancy, I'm against all corruption, in the private sector and public sector.
The problem is many conservatives only focus on the public sector, and hardly blame the private sector if the private sector corrupts the public sector.
The best thing the US can do about this is institute public financing of campaigns, and get private money out of the game. Therefore the leaders would feel that they have to scratch the back the people that funded their campaigns.
It isn't ONLY corrupt politicians. It's also corrupt business leaders that want to bribe and corrupt our leaders. Politicians==drug users, business leaders==drug dealers.
And the Citizens United case was an absolutely horribly decided case by the Supreme Court, and a huge blow against democracy in my opinion.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 8:42AM
Correction: Therefore the leaders would not feel that they have to scratch the back the people that funded their campaigns.
Tom Kyba| 1.31.13 @ 11:24AM
Second correction: what you mean is all corporations are evil and you throw in "all" corruption as a butt covering mechanism since you never spend any time commenting on Democrat corruption. After all, you've seen evil corporations in movies, and that's all the proof you need.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:38PM
If you were really "Against Corruption of all kinds" you would not have Obama's D*ck in your Mouth 24/7/365.
You would be DEMANDING that John Corzine be Tried for his Crimes, instead of working in this White House as a Money Bundler.
You would be INCENSED that the guy with his D*ck in your Mouth, gave Billion$ to his Biggest Campaign Contributors for their Bogus Green Energy Companies, that Mysteriously CLOSED THEIR DOORS, shortly after they got their Payoff.
You would be going OUT OF YOUR MIND that this POS Ran Thousands of High Powered Automatic Weapons to Mexican Drug Cartels, killing over 1,000 Innocent Mexican Men, Women, and CHILDREN, without ever informing the Mexican Government.
You would've DENOUNCED his Waging an Illegal War against Libya, in Violation of The War Powers Act, and with ZERO CONSULTATION with Congress.
Forged Documents. An Illegal Drilling Moratorium. And, Unconstitutional Recess Appointments.
But, you don't care.
So, STFU.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 4:48PM
Where'd you go?
Controse| 1.31.13 @ 11:21AM
Arnie your simple mindedness is charming.
Capitalism brings you the bounty you enjoy either directly when you buy a product or service using your own money. Or indirectly when you buy that product or service using my money via taxes paid to the government that takes its cut and sends my money on to you.
Your own money came to you because you supplied a service or capital to a capitalist entity be it a mom and pop shop or General Motors. Or it came to you from me via a government handout. But I only had it because I got paid for supplying a service or capital to a capitalist entity.
Capitalism is the fount filling our bucket of plenty. Government is the hole in the bucket.
The less government the better. That is what America was all about at its founding.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:39PM
Contest, Tomorrow.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:47PM
Mr. Bowman's Tuesday Column.
flyovermark| 1.31.13 @ 1:18PM
In deciding Citizen's United, the Court looked at the first amendment to the Constitution - "Congress shall make no law...", whereas the word "democracy" cannot be found in the Constitution at all.
It seems obvious to me that McCain/Feingold was a horrible law, and it's passage a huge blow against the Constitution.
Kwan| 1.31.13 @ 8:08AM
More words of wisdom from Awnie the Leftist Retard. Like any good leftist this morning Awnie is railing against corporations and profit. His argument is that a dictatorial government should nationalize the economy and prohibit the private ownership of any business or property. According to Awnie's deluded logic this will somehow benefit the poor and middle class having low IQ leftist automatons running everything. Think Cuba or Venezuela and you get an idea what the useful idiot Awnie considers utopia.
pogybait| 1.31.13 @ 8:51AM
Yes, the ideological underpinnings are becoming more and more obvious..... The struggle for economic justice, liberating the oppressed, and destroying the means to productivity privately held by those evil capitalists because it makes him feel good to imagine that he is defending humanity from evil.
Miles Glorious| 1.31.13 @ 8:59AM
Explain economic justice.
Kwan| 1.31.13 @ 9:23AM
It's actually Orwellian Newspeak for Slavery Reparations.
Pecos Pete| 1.31.13 @ 9:55AM
Kwan: Damn, that's really good!
Kwan| 1.31.13 @ 2:30PM
Dem dere ObamaBucks is restitution and justice for someone whose great-great-great-great-great-great-great Granpappy was forced to picked cotton on a southern cotton plantation.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:48PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's Tuesday Column.
Kwan| 1.31.13 @ 9:21AM
The left uses the struggle for equality to cloak its actual Marxist intentions: the implementation of a Totalitarian Socialist State.
Tina B| 1.31.13 @ 10:12AM
Said in just one sentence. Very well done, Kwan.
Kwan| 1.31.13 @ 2:35PM
Step One: Comprehend your enemy's intentions.
Step Two: Make a monumental effort to thwart those intentions.
sickofit5| 1.31.13 @ 11:13AM
And with every passing day the descendants of slaves, Barry excluded, become more equal. Black unemployment at 14%, Chicago homicides up to 42 and Beyonce is caught lip-syncing and nobody cares.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:42PM
Contest, Tomorrow.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:44PM
At Mr. Bowman's House.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:49PM
His Tuesday Column.
Kwan| 1.31.13 @ 3:02PM
The saps, suckers, and morons in the black community keep voting for these black hustlers like Obama, whose leftist policies turn their cities into replicas of Detroit and New Orleans. High crime rates, failed school systems, declining populations and declining tax revenues, resulting in cities populated by those in need of an endless amount of social services. These are the losers that vote for a loser like Obama.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 4:49PM
Careful.
Jeff| 1.31.13 @ 6:12PM
Getting rich off ties to the government is the point. Who gives the government contracts???????Those 6 figure bureaucrats.
Less government, less government contracts. Duh.
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 7:23AM
Purparnie the Village Idiot posted:
"Purp| 11.8.12 @ 10:35AM
1. "Hurricane Sandy and Chris Christie was the Lord's way of pressing his thumb on the scale to tilt in the direction of President Obama. It was His punishment of Republicans for their lying and trying to cheat (Voter Suppression) their way to political victory, while espousing faith, freedom and constitutional credentials."
2. purpie believes God killed over 100 persons and destroyed millions of dollars of property to help Obama win.
3. In Sept Purpie wrote that Amassador Stevens was at fault and caused his death.
4. Purpie also wrote that the unborn are biological entities not deserving of protection until God allows them to be born. (What does this mean?)
Purparnie represents the Loon Left that should be mocked and ridiculed, and not engaged in conversation
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.31.13 @ 8:08AM
It is comical that Arnie arrogantly thinks that by arriving early, and posting his inane drivel, that he can somehow is establishing moral dominance.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 8:21AM
Albert by the way thinks he is morally superior to everyone else.
See, his drivel is sans name calling which makes him morally superior, although he loves it if his friends do it. If the objects of his drivel are liberals, democrats, tortured women and children in Central America, people that don't want so many guns in society, which he refers to as communists or Marxists. Which of course is acceptable name calling for him.
Suffice to say, he is not an intelligent, nor moral man.
Good morning Albert.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.31.13 @ 8:54AM
Your lack of approbation is humbling, so I'll do my penance (and name calling) within the confines of rhyme.
I would rather find a finger
In the bowl with my con carne
Than to wake up and discover
I was a loser just like Arnie
Another hired lame leftist
So quick to throw an insult
At those who mock his talking points
And Kool-Aid drinking cult
With links to leftist magazines
And other useless cut and paste
He tries and fails to make his point
And every comment is a waste
With every word that he does type
He shows that he’s beguiled
And then should others make response
He snaps back like a child
With the manner of a punk
And a temper that’s quite manic
should Soros ever pull the plug
he’s bound to run and panic
and when he loses each debate
he’s never one to quarrel
for in his mind he really won
and claims that you’re not moral
so if you have a jackass
that you keep out in the barn he
will turn out to be worthless
if you choose to call him Arnie
Pecos Pete| 1.31.13 @ 9:02AM
Albert:
Snap! x 4.
You left out a few descriptive terms.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.31.13 @ 10:00AM
Keeping it clean, real and relevantly on target, Pedro. You never know when the post police will want your license and registration.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:43PM
Contest, Tomorrow.
Mr. Bowman's House.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:49PM
Tuesday's Column.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 9:17AM
I would rather come across a turd
in my soup
than across the old horrible poet Albert
who's head is full of poop
He thinks he's so moral, so bright
yet has nothing to show for it
but strange writings the Englishman calls shit.
He never backs up his argument
for they are the rantings of
Rush, FOX, and Levin
So if you don't want to know Albert
keep your toilet clean.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 9:18AM
Wow that was hard. Have you been working on that since the first grade Albert?
You've almost got a talent there.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.31.13 @ 9:58AM
Just like your other posts, your poetry lacks discipline or coherence, and devolves into scatological references (I guess the suspension for all your gay name calling required you to change your tack) devoid of an facts or meaning.
Thank you for proving my point.
loulou| 1.31.13 @ 10:36AM
Arnie's attempt to imitate a poet was feeble.
The ignoramus doesn't have what it takes. He thought he was going to be clever. Pathetic.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:48PM
Contest, tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's house.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:20PM
His Tuesday Column.
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 2:27PM
Albert
Note that the Village Idiot responds to various names, purpie, arnie, or purparnie. He discarded Jefferson because it must be too complicated to write.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:19PM
How is it that it seems like EVERYBODY ELSE CAN WRITE DIRTY WORDS except me?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:20PM
The Contest is at Mr. Bowman's Tuesday Column.
sickofit5| 1.31.13 @ 11:19AM
I guess when you spend your life with your head up your *ass the only thing you can talk about is what comes out of it.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:48PM
Albert IS Morally Superior to everyone else.
So, unless you're gonna Shine His Shoes?
Shut Up.
Albert's a Hero Marine.
You're Nothing.
But, you already know that, don't you?
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 4:49PM
Hear, hear, TLP
Tina B| 1.31.13 @ 10:19AM
I hope that Arndog didn't intend that as a poem. Maybe that of a seventh or eighth grader, like the ones I used to find on the floor of a classroom folded up like origami. It would probably have a wazzup arrow as a greeting, and at least one star dotting the letter i. Lame. Jus sayin'.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:23PM
The Contest, tomorrow, is at Mr. Bowman's Column from Tuesday.
Anthony| 1.31.13 @ 12:32PM
I thought 10 year olds were not allowed on TAS?
Arnie is indeed a product of the public school system.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:50PM
A Product of the Public School System?
He's their Valedictorian.
CJW| 1.31.13 @ 4:49PM
He is the principal.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 4:52PM
He's the Secretary of Education.
Contest at Bowman's Tuesday Column.
R Martin| 1.31.13 @ 8:33AM
AC, the Bastiat Society meeting is not tonight but next Thursday, 7 Feb. Hope to see you there. Sorry, my mistake.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.31.13 @ 8:45AM
Next week might work out better for the schedule. Thanks for the update.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:51PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's House.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:24PM
His Tuesday Column.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 4:52PM
You keep spelling Basket, wrong.
What's wrong with you?
Purp| 2.1.13 @ 12:51AM
All true - so?
You're just a bitter LOSER that can't accept America rejects you.
You can try and ridicule all you want - it doesn't work - you LOST, it still hurts you and it will continue to hurt until you change. Until then, you're a bitter old fart that has nothing to say but snark.
You are the troll. But enjoy yourself, LOSER.
Ryan| 1.31.13 @ 8:40AM
A flat or fairtax removes a LOT of these issues, particularly with the corporatism rampant (which is as big a part of the problem in DC, and adds in with the stupid salaries and bureaucracy).
Lower and simplify the tax rate, in any case, and a lot of the lobbying may go away. Remove the need for the cronyism - the high taxation and dumb regulation.
It also brings about a TRUE free market. The left has consistently been deluding themselves that what occurs is capitalism. It isn't. It's actually closer to the economic model of fascism, but we hate using that word.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 8:48AM
Ryan, the cronyism starts when the campaigns kick off. How, and where, do you think they get most of their money?
Guess what. The 40K a plate fund raising dinners that Romney was having wasn't from poor and middle class folk.
But I agree, the tax code could be really simplified. No deductions at all. And I would say boil it down to 4 tax brackets.
Drunken Sailor| 1.31.13 @ 10:07AM
As opposed to Obama's 40K fund raising dinners?
Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.31.13 @ 10:09AM
...but there were celebrities at his...
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 10:31AM
Yes, my point proven. Both parties are corrupt. Let's get money out of campaigns!!!
But just to be clear, Romney did have far more large donors. Obama had way more small donors.
SUBVET| 1.31.13 @ 11:52AM
Hay..........Swab.....what about his 1.6 M day trip LV.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:53PM
How about the $1.6 Billion for all of his Vacations?
Drunken Sailor| 2.1.13 @ 9:58AM
Chump Change
cicero| 1.31.13 @ 8:56AM
This is why I laugh out loud everytime the Repubs pee down their legs at the thought of shutting down the government, rather than raising the debt limit once again. What worse could possibly happen? Shut the damn thing down. Maybe then the cretins who elected, and will continue to elect this mostrosity will figure it out.
Mitt Romney, during his campaign, suggested that we only fund those programs that were so important that we would borrow money from China to sustain them. Nobody was listening. Now that even China won't buy our bonds , we go through the charade of having the Fed Reserve buying Treasury bonds - something like lending money from our right (empty) pocket to our left (empty) pocket. The idiocy will stop when the private economy tanks, and the fools take to the streets, protesting that their money won't buy anything anymore. But our beaurocracy will be just fine, thank you. They will be in the halls of government serving us.
Job| 1.31.13 @ 10:28AM
Hate to beat a dead horse but The Mayans, probably the ones in fly over country (guess thats the jungle down there), probably got tired of what Mr. Lord said, some dolt earning a hundred and fifty grand of your extracted money for sitting in a concrete big box (substitute on top of for in and triangle for box) in Washington/Machu Pichu making life or death decisions for their respective companies/cronies.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:25PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's Tuesday Column.
Pecos Pete| 1.31.13 @ 9:00AM
1. My "lobbyist" is supposed to be my elected representatives to Congress. Do they listen to me? No. Why not, you ask? Answer: I can't send them as much money as GE, Buffett, etc.; or, provide them with national TV appearances with friendly PR people (otherwise known as jounalists).
2. DC is a cesspool that needs draining. We could start by moving each alphabet agency to cities around the country. Granted, it would be better to simply terminate them. But, termination not being likely, with the current wonderful digital age these agencies could perform their charitable functions from anywhere. Like St. Louis MO , Gun Barrel City TX, Lamar CO, Las Vegas NM (yes dear, there is a Las Vegas in New Mexico), Blue Mountain MS, Arab AL, etc. You know, places where unemployment is very high.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:27PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr, Bowman's Tuesday Column.
DerKrieger| 1.31.13 @ 9:03AM
Arnie,
Seems to me that you have things backward. It is the politicians' penchant for controlling everyone and everything that gave rise to lobbyists and corporate interest in persuasion.
In your view politicians are all earnest do-gooders susceptible to the predations of evil corporations when the truth is that politicians are running little more than a protection racket and lobbyists are the go-betweens.
If politicians weren't constantly trying to tax and regulate then there woud be little need for companies to hire lobbyists.
Take the ethanol lobby for example. If the government hadn't inserted itself unconstitutionally into the energy market and mandated the use of ethanol in fuel, the ethanol lobby wouldn't even exist. Monsanto et al wouldn't have an army of lobbyists working to extend the mandates and subsidies.
But without the ability to tax and regulate politicians would have less power, influence, and importance so they will never give up interfering with the economy thus driving the need for lobbyists.
The complexity of the tax code also drives the need for lobbyists.
If there were a simple flat tax applied equally to all businesses with absolutely no deductions or loopholes, how many lobbyists would be out of jobs and how much campaign cash would dry up?
It is the politicians, not business, that drives this dirty cycle.
mike 3/505| 1.31.13 @ 9:38AM
Hear! Hear!
KennesawJack| 1.31.13 @ 12:45PM
Mike, been meaning to ask you. 505th PIR?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:54PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's house.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:26PM
His Tuesday Column.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 11:11AM
DerKrieger,
"Seems to me that you have things backward. It is the politicians' penchant for controlling everyone and everything that gave rise to lobbyists and corporate interest in persuasion.
In your view politicians are all earnest do-gooders susceptible to the predations of evil corporations when the truth is that politicians are running little more than a protection racket and lobbyists are the go-betweens."
I do not have an absolute view about politicians or business leaders as you suggest. Although, if you think politicians are so hell bent on controlling things, why do you vote for any of them?
The fact is, I think most, but definitely not all, go into politics with their hearts in the right place, Republicans and Democrats. But they HAVE to raise money for expensive campaigns in the American system to even compete. Hence, when they get into Congress, they are expected to carry out the wishes of those monetary supporters, or guess what, no money next time they run. (term limits is not a bad idea) Democrats and Republicans both have their own corporate backers, no doubt.
Anyway, it was actually the opinion of the Supreme Court in Citizens United, that this so called expression of free speech, through campaign funds, should be the law of the land and be unregulated, which I think is totally stupid.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 11:14AM
And as to the interplay of politicians and the government and private enterprise, the U.S. Congress was a completely corrupt place in the 1800s long before there were virtually any agencies, or regulatory bodies. So the argument that business is somehow compelled to bribe, in the name of deregulation or low taxes (which is not really a moral argument), does not hold water. Simply put, businesses have been lobbying government for their interests since the beginning of the country.
You say the government inserts itself into the economy. I see it differently. They are invited into the economy. Just look at about any spending bill. They are practically written directly from the lobbyists of private enterprise. This happens everyday at the federal, state, county, and city level. If politicians wanted to control everything, why don't they just write the legislation themselves?
Again, I'll repeat. Our political leaders and business leaders collude to make an absolute mess of things. But again, I feel you guys on the right do not want to actively acknowledge the role that corporations have over the influence of our government and our daily lives. The Republican Party used to understand this and made great strides against trusts and corporate influence. Modern republican voters fall for their anti-government bashing magic trick....you look at one hand, and not the other.
Arnie| 1.31.13 @ 11:14AM
If you really want to find out who is controlling things, follow the money. The corporate accounts are overflowing. Isn't the government of the people, by the people, for the people... going broke?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 1:59PM
The Money leads right back to the Democrats.
Why do you think we're not Drilling?
Why do you think that the guy who has his D*ck in your Mouth, turned down the XL Pipeline?
Why do you think that Cuomo, in New York, is dragging his feet on Fracking, while Pennsylvania and North Dakota have MORE JOBS than they have people, to fill them?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:05PM
Environmental Campaign Contributions, and to Hell with American Jobs.
JD| 1.31.13 @ 6:54PM
"But again, I feel you guys on the right do not want to actively acknowledge the role that corporations have over the influence of our government and our daily lives."
An absolute lie, Arnie. Your statement reflects the hubris of the modern Leftist, who seems to believe that he gets to define the Right. The conservative who thinks business can do no wrong has never existed anywhere but in the minds of the Leftists who can't handle arguing against a conservative who doesn't have whatever flaws the Leftist conveniently imagines for himself.
The truth is that corruption is a function of size and complexity. The Founding Fathers realized this, which is why they created a distributed system loaded with checks and balances. You Leftists consistently work to destroy that. You fight against states' rights, consolidating power in the federal government, and you undermine checks on the power of whatever branch of the federal government is most likely to do your bidding at a given moment.
You expand size and complexity, buying us all more of their consequences. But, being unwilling to own up to that, you think that all you need to do is point out the role of non-government in these consequences. Thus you absolve yourselves, only in your own minds, of responsibility, and avoid the obvious solutions to the problem, which require the dismantling of your agenda.
Job| 1.31.13 @ 12:01PM
The Whiskey Rebellion was a microcosm of what DK is saying here. After the revolutionary war the whiskey tax startled those who had fought because those that were on the fronteir saw it as just some more taxation without representation.
Corn whiskey was money to dirt poor farmers in the early days of this republic. Many of these farmers lived in areas where there were no roads, schools were one room and built by the community as were churches; point is the federal government was doing nothing for these dirt poor farmers so why the hell should they be taxed to death by them.
That was why for 60 years after the whiskey tax became law any reveneur who tried to enforce it was tarred and feathered if he was lucky.
The enforcement over time got stronger till the time of Hoover but was always corrupt and the feds never saw a dime; the same bootleg moonshine was going where it was going before and the law enforcement from the feds on down were nothing but a protection racket.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:29PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's Tuesday Column.
Hardcard| 1.31.13 @ 9:23AM
Hey Al it's the punks job, soros and media matters will be around for a while. Don't let these nameless, gutless weasels get any attention, they are here to cloud the real issues and cause turmoil if they can.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:00PM
HARDCARD!
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's house.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:29PM
His Tuesday Column.
Anthony| 1.31.13 @ 9:27AM
Yes Moyers was indeed the Valarie Jarrett and Jack Lew of his day, however, unlike those two, Moyers was into outing gay Republicans.
Moyers was and is, one nasty, sanctimonious POS.
But hey, Juan (clueless) Williams still thinks NPR, PBS and Moyers are just dandy.
loulou| 1.31.13 @ 10:40AM
Juan parlayed his faux rage at PBS into a multimillion $$ deal at Fox. Juan is the quintessential token person of color. He contributes nothing.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:04PM
Contest tomorrow at Mr. Bowman's house.
Be there, or be Arnie.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:30PM
His Tuesday Column.
Jack London| 1.31.13 @ 9:38AM
This of course is a diversion from the real scandal of America, which is that the wealthy have enormously expanded their share of wealth and income while the vast majority have seen stagnating or declining income. This has continued throughout the recession.
Of couse some officials are well paid. But they are only a small part of the picture and in fact it's largely declining government spend that's put us back into negative growth in the last quarter.
philippic| 1.31.13 @ 10:13AM
rhetoric. prove it - you don't have the analysis to back it up. as though there was an ineluectable relationship between I in the grand macro equation and GDP growth. all those defense cuts last Fall/Winter anticipating sequestration - real; static to declining small business growth in response to ACA - real; small bank collapses in response to unintended DoDD Frank and other regulatory restrictions - real; arrested Energy growth in response to EPA and Adminstration edicts - real; consumer prepartaions for 2013 tax increases - real. bring real analysis to the table if you're going to step onto the soap box.
philippic| 1.31.13 @ 10:13AM
ehh...in a hurry...."...between G...."
Jack London| 1.31.13 @ 11:22AM
Income and wealth distribution are a matter of record - go look it up if you're really interested, which I suspect you're not.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:03PM
Now, go look at how much money your Democrat Buddies had when they got to Congress, and how much they have, now, on a Fixed Income.
Then GFY.
JD| 1.31.13 @ 6:39PM
It is you, Jack, who need to "look it up."
The phony statistics your party insists that we believe include all manner of deceptions, including misleading measures of inflation, misleading measures of financial well-being, using "households" instead of individuals to exaggerate disparities, and acting as though income quintiles are constant groups of people.
Never do you feel it necessary to explain the causes or consequences of income disparity logically.
As for GDP's decline, that's yet another of your party's lies. You define GDP such that all government spending counts in GDP, yet private sector payroll does not. Thus the link between GDP and government spending becomes a tautology, not anything meaningful. This is just one of the many ways in which you Leftists define the well-being and prosperity of America as being equivalent to the wealth and power of the government, without considering the people.
philippic| 1.31.13 @ 10:48PM
we're talking about growth. and you presented zero, zip, nada analysis to support the claim that a decline in the famous G was responsible for the drop in GDP GROWTH. I know anecdotally from small business friends and others why they did not hire in the last quarter; I know of big businesses who let people go IN ANTICIPATION OF SEQUESTRATION DOWN THE ROAD; watch the business talking heads on all the major media channels - they are claiming some component of restrained new hires owes to two factors: looming tax increases and regulatory uncertainty. in short......come up with a more sophisticated answer than the simpleminded rhetoric. the factors in play are more complex.
Bob K| 1.31.13 @ 9:40AM
Nothing Mr. Lord says here is news.
And 2 years from now when the 2016 Presidential Election campaign is getting underway Mr. Lord will be writing columns supporting Republican candidates who want the kind of government he is railing about here.
And once again the party will end up being represented by a person of questionable talent and character who will go along to get along and who will lose because the Middle Class electorate realizes that no matter who wins they will end up paying the bills for Washington's prosperous extractor class along with the bills to keep their own towns, cities, schools and states running!
The biggest problem the Middle Class has is the ignorance of the Journalists like Hannity and Lord who refuse to see that the real problem that the Middle Class has is that it must also support the states with the Local, Municipal and School taxes they have to pay in addition to the money they send to Washington DC via Income Taxes.
As a result Middle Class voters stay home during Presidential elections rather than come out and vote for Republicans who have no intention of changing things.
Waccamaw| 1.31.13 @ 10:43AM
How exactly has Bill Moyers profitted personally from extractor economics?
Bob K| 1.31.13 @ 11:16AM
Seriously!
He knows his way around Washington DC!
He learned his politics at the feet of LBJ who was dirt poor when he started and ended up with great wealth from the connections he made during a lifetime in politics.
Nothing Bill Moyers has ever been connected with in his life has not been politically connected. You don't think he got his NPR/PBS success from talent, do you. How do you think George Stephanopoulos got connected to ABC?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:11PM
I'm told that LBJ used to pick up Moyers by his ears, whenever he stopped by his Office.
Derek Leaberry| 1.31.13 @ 11:51AM
I was born and have lived in the orbit of Washington DC. As the economy flounders, Washington flourishes. The city is on its way to a white majority, perhaps by 2020, because of all the white liberals transforming black neighborhoods like Franklin Park, Bloomingdale, Brookland, much of Rhode Island Avenue, and H Street. Most of these white liberals have some sort of hand in the government till. Across the Potomac, Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax County are also dominated by white liberals with their soft meat hooks grasping some sort of government largesse. Sequester is the least thing that the liberal glob called Washington deserves. And let sequester hit the northern Virginia defense and intelligence sectors that are so devoted to Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Gerry Connolly and Jim Moran.
Hardcard| 1.31.13 @ 12:07PM
Where is Jon Corzine and that billion $$$. Bobby Menendez's benefactor that flew Bobby boy to that trist with girl prostitutes in a foreign country on his private jet owes 11 milliion in back taxes to IRS. Senator Menendez was pissed at the prostitutes for wanting to be paid the agreed to fees, he propably thought it was a freebee from his benefactor the aformentioned tax cheat with the jet. Corruption , We don't need no stinkn' corouption, At this point what does it matter ? Solyndra anyone?
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:07PM
He's at The Contest, at Mr. Bowman's house.
Where you should be, tomorrow.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:31PM
His Tuesday Column.
Petronius| 1.31.13 @ 12:38PM
This shit has happened every time the Democrats got elected to the presidency. All they do besides taking more of My Freedom from me is drive up the cost of living because of the featherbedding and waste of OUR money. I quit voting for them after Dickless Gephart turned against us. Moyers and company always bitch about what business charges their customers. Just once I'd like to see and hear him defend a beleaguered tax payer who's standard of living is declining because of His friends in government pillorying them needlessly. And I don't give a rats rear if the issue is Dole's corn farmers and ethanol or GE and squiggly bulbs. A pox on both your parties, and all the bureau-parasites. If it weren't for this governmental interference, gas would be half a buck cheaper and the 100 watt incandescent bulb would still be $.45. We can't afford any more liberalism.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 2:09PM
Absolutely Perfect.
Join us at Mr. Bowman's house tomorrow, for The Contest.
You won't be disappointed.
TLP| 1.31.13 @ 3:32PM
His Tuesday Column.
Kingofthenet| 1.31.13 @ 12:42PM
A mere government attorney for the NLRB can slip into his starting post for a salary in the mid-eighties in Extracted Money
Is this a Conservative joke? I thought at first (granted I should have known better) there was something to this new term I never heard before 'Extractor Class' , apparently it's CODE for complaining on how much Govt. Workers get paid, believe me lawyers in private practice make WAY,WAY over 80k a year.
JD| 1.31.13 @ 6:33PM
Oh look, a Leftist missing the point. What are the odds?
Private sector employees have to earn their salary by delivering value to their employers that exceeds the salary. Government employees do not face consequences nearly so directly.
Government entities take money from taxpayers not because they deliver worthwhile value to those customers, but because the "customers" go to jail if they don't pay. There is no functioning feedback system for ensuring that government employees justify their salaries.
Because your left-wing mindset completely lacks such fundamental concepts as what money is, what an economy is, what value is, what rights are, etc, you fail to see the glaring difference between being paid for value generated and being paid without generating value. Your ideology allows you to call both "work", without there being any underlying meaning to the term.
DILLIGAF| 1.31.13 @ 1:21PM
I know, let's all focus on the one tiny part of a large and very serious issue that supports our point of view and then write up an incoherent, thinly veiled, argumentum ad hominem, and thrown in a few facts to fit our own world view, and ignore the ones that don't. Now we can go to sleeep at night knowing that we are right and the other side is wrong! Nobody can pop my bubble! Anyone else smell the BS here?
Third Army| 1.31.13 @ 2:34PM
I saw the show and it wasn't that great. I thought he let the DC establishment off pretty easily. I would have gotten a little more personal and detailed. Show a chart showing any congressman's networth when he first came into office and then show his networth now or when he left. Also, show where their kids go to school. It's all Ivy League and prep palaces.
JD| 1.31.13 @ 6:06PM
Democrats raise taxes, then blame Republicans when business flees the country due to higher taxes. Democrats institute government preferences, then blame Republicans when lobbying and corruption attempt to influence those preferences.
In all things, Democrats seem terribly deficient at understanding cause and effect.
squalis| 1.31.13 @ 6:41PM
"In all things, Democrats seem terribly deficient at understanding cause and effect."
Wrong-they understand that if you promise low info voters with free stuff using other people's money, the effect is you get elected.
JD| 1.31.13 @ 6:57PM
No, they don't even understand that. They do it without understanding.
As Arnie said earlier, most everyone in politics has good intentions. He's right about that. The Left is much more stupid than it is malevolent. They believe that they get elected because they make things "better". They DO what you say they do, but they don't understand it.
Purp| 2.1.13 @ 12:53AM
And, yet they are the majority of the country and America leans center left...
You must be doing something wrong, huh?
philippic| 2.1.13 @ 6:50PM
and that...in a nutshell.....captures the essence of your moral philosophy.
Tina B| 2.1.13 @ 11:35AM
I'm sorry, but I so disagree about the majority being well intentioned. It is in fact a minority of altruists or do-gooders, poor utopeans, and many of them get corrupted once imbedded in the cesspool that is now DC. And the poison at the top that is the Obamiasma, is most assuredly devious and evil in it's intent. Unless you believe Communism is good, and black is white, and down is up, and so on.