Posted on 02/12/2009 6:43:14 AM PST by Graybeard58
Just about everything the banking, financial and automotive industries touched in 2008 turned to dust, but they did get a quite handsome return — 267,208 percent — on one investment: politicians, including Sen. Christopher Dodd and Rep. Christopher Murphy.
The Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks political greasings at opensecrets.org, says the $114.2 million those industries devoted to lobbying in 2008 and to campaign donations in the recently ended election cycle netted them $305.2 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, with more on the way. The center said the companies that donated the most got the most, and members of Congress who had the most influence to sell got the most lubrication.
In all, members of the Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Sen. Dodd, D-Conn., and the House Financial Services Committee, on which Rep. Murphy sits, got $5.2 million in the last two years from TARP beneficiaries, the center said; $1 in every $6 ($854,200 in all) went to Sen. Dodd, by far the best oiled member of Congress. In addition, from 2003-08, he took in $9 million in donations from securities and investment, insurance, real estate, banking, finance, accounting and credit companies and their employees, and another $535,000 from lobbyists, center records show. And he saved a bunch of money on his mortgages from Countrywide Financial.
The center did not disclose the total Rep. Murphy, D-5th District, accepted from TARP recipients. But in the last cycle, he hit up banking, real estate and financial companies and their employees for $577,000. His committee and Sen. Dodd's were chiefly responsible for the TARP, also known as the Wall Street bailout. "During the bill-writing process, members of Congress were able to specify to some extent where the money should go," the center said, "and they have lobbied regulators to urge them to inject funds into specific banks and financial institutions, including those in lawmakers' own districts."
Under congressional "rules," such quid pro quos aren't bribery, they're business as usual.
Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.
If you want on or off this list, let me know.
“Under congressional “rules,” such quid pro quos aren’t bribery, they’re business as usual.”
One sentence that tells us why we need term limits.
What will it take to end this culture of corruption sullied by PAYOLA in CONGRESS?!!!
“”tracks political greasings at opensecrets.org, says the $114.2 million those industries devoted to lobbying in 2008 and to campaign donations in the recently ended election cycle netted them $305.2 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds, with more on the way. “”
follow the money trail and theres always a politician at either end.
And gallows.
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