Getbig Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Forums

Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Benny B on July 03, 2011, 04:22:16 PM

Title: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Benny B on July 03, 2011, 04:22:16 PM: You're not wealthy? Guess what...the repubes could care less if you DROPPED DEAD tomorrow. Just give them your vote so that they can take care of their wealthy benefactors.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Coach is Back! on July 03, 2011, 05:41:59 PM: If you're a democrat/liberal chances are you inherited wealth....if you're a republican/conservative chances are you worked for your wealth.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: ManBearPig... on July 03, 2011, 05:49:22 PM: the world has enough failures who blame others for their lack of success in life as well. they seem to protect each other much better.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Benny B on July 03, 2011, 06:01:38 PM: Quote from: The Coach on July 03, 2011, 05:41:59 PM
If you're a democrat/liberal chances are you inherited wealth....if you're a republican/conservative chances are you worked for your wealth.
Uhhh...Mitt Romney? Donald Trump?
Warren Buffett? Bill Gates?

You are the dumbest person on the internet
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Coach is Back! on July 03, 2011, 06:22:57 PM: Mmmmm, ok there's three dumbshit. Even so they have businesses and made the most from capitolism. If you want to narrow it dumbfuck, the dems that are in office and obamas so-called administration, they have been almost life long politicians.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: The Abdominal Snoman on July 03, 2011, 06:26:14 PM: Arnold is a closet Liberal. Why else do you think he married a Kennedy. Hell he isn't even in the closet anymore. Look what he did for California. He's been a socialist all his life.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: ManBearPig... on July 03, 2011, 06:29:01 PM: Quote from: The Abdominal Snoman on July 03, 2011, 06:26:14 PM
Arnold is a closet Liberal. Why else do you think he married a Kennedy. Hell he isn't even in the closet anymore. Look what he did for California. He's been a socialist all his life.

not many republicans will fight you for that one.

then again, didn't his opponents include a porn star and a midget? California's full of weirdos.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Coach is Back! on July 03, 2011, 06:30:21 PM: Matlin married Carville.....but you're right about Arnold.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: lowkey9 on July 03, 2011, 06:31:10 PM: Quote from: The Coach on July 03, 2011, 05:41:59 PM
If you're a democrat/liberal chances are you inherited wealth....if you're a republican/conservative chances are you worked for your wealth.

Hahaha you have gotta be the dumbest guy on this planet.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Coach is Back! on July 03, 2011, 06:33:55 PM: Okeedokee. Whatever you say.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Benny B on July 03, 2011, 06:35:21 PM: Quote from: The Coach on July 03, 2011, 06:22:57 PM
Mmmmm, ok there's three dumbshit. Even so they have businesses and made the most from capitolism. If you want to narrow it dumbfuck, the dems that are in office and obamas so-called administration, they have been almost life long politicians.
You want me to list 100...250...10,000 people so that I can show that your statement was completely moronic? Do your own research, or more importantly, provide FACTS to back up your bullshit or shut the fuck up.

Your above quote makes no sense, with the prerequisite spelling errors. You are once again proving to be getbig's village idiot. ::) Did you earn your GED to learn how to count reps for a living? Did all of your wives leave you once they realized you were to dumb to hold an intelligent conversation? :-\

Also, correct me if I'm wrong...you are a Mexican midget, no?
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: ManBearPig... on July 03, 2011, 06:38:08 PM: Quote from: Benny Blanco on July 03, 2011, 06:35:21 PM
You want me to list 100...250...10,000 people so that I can show that your statement was completely moronic? Do your own research, or more importantly, provide FACTS to back up your bullshit or shut the fuck up.

Your above quote makes no sense, with the prerequisite spelling errors. You are once again proving to be getbig's village idiot. ::) Did you earn your GED to learn how to count reps for a living? Did all of your wives leave you once they realized you were to dumb to hold an intelligent conversation? :-\

Also, correct me if I'm wrong...you are a Mexican midget, no?

do you stay up at night knowing the mexican midget has a better life for you? do you think he somehow took some of money that was "coming to you"? i bet for all the times you were raging in your mom's basement that he has a better life than you, while you were thinking of reasons why you hate him, not once did you think about getting off your own ass and making something of yourself.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Benny B on July 03, 2011, 06:44:39 PM: Quote from: ManBearPig... on July 03, 2011, 06:38:08 PM
do you stay up at night knowing the mexican midget has a better life for you? do you think he somehow took some of money that was "coming to you"? i bet for all the times you were raging in your mom's basement that he has a better life than you, while you were thinking of reasons why you hate him, not once did you think about getting off your own ass and making something of yourself.
lol
You don't me, son. ::)

I make more money than the Mexican midget, and unfortunately for him he is a mental midget as well. :(

I don't hate this guy, he is a clown and moron. He is too stupid and too insignificant to "hate." I respond to him because he pounces on my threads with utter nonsense time and time again.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: ManBearPig... on July 03, 2011, 06:47:28 PM: Quote from: Benny Blanco on July 03, 2011, 06:44:39 PM
lol
You don't me, son. ::)

I make more money than the Mexican midget, and unfortunately for him he is a mental midget as well. :(

I don't hate this guy, he is a clown and moron. He is too stupid and too insignificant to "hate." I respond to him because he pounces on my threads with utter nonsense time and time again.

re-read what you just wrote, and tell me how i could conclude anything but deep seeded hate for a man you've never met?
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Coach is Back! on July 03, 2011, 06:58:06 PM: LOL...and you call us racist. I'm no more mexican than you are a rich white republican. Ok Benny, how much DO you make? Let get down to it. For every dem you name I can name 5 or 10, 20. Most people that are my clientele are Doctors, people in business, etc. Even my young athletes parents are well off. I chose my demographic carefully. Sooo, how much do you make??
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Coach is Back! on July 03, 2011, 07:16:10 PM: Bump for Benny.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 04, 2011, 05:51:17 AM: You mean the tax break obama himself wrote into the stim bill while he runs around on the publicly financed AF1 pissing away million?
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: GigantorX on July 04, 2011, 08:02:52 AM: The Democrats had total power for around 4 years in D.C. and nothing was spoken about ending anything, raising anything or doing anything other than blaming Bush and shoving ObamaCare down the nations throats.

Nice try, fuckface.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 04, 2011, 08:16:18 AM: Benny - are these the same fund managers obama has in the wh he uis trying to hawk cash from?
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Purge_WTF on July 04, 2011, 08:24:16 AM: This is the reason I went third party a few years ago. The Democrats are pushing us towards Secularism and Socialism, and the Republicans are, with a few exceptions, plutocrats and corporate prostitutues who only care about the wealthy.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: luvvsuNOT on July 04, 2011, 01:48:10 PM: Coach finally doing some monster owning himself. Not hard though when it's dealing with the typical angry black man preoccupied with being black and going through life with a sense of entitlement all the while always bragging about how rich and successful he is.

* Cue the meltdown or baby crying pic *
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 04, 2011, 03:12:32 PM: Funny how benny no mentioning the dinners for wall street execs in the wh, the tax breaks for jets obama himself wrote in to the stim bill, and the fact that the breaks obama screaming about are not even a tiny fraction of the deficit zero is running year over year.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: whork25 on July 05, 2011, 06:48:11 AM: Quote from: 333386 on July 04, 2011, 03:12:32 PM
Funny how benny no mentioning the dinners for wall street execs in the wh, the tax breaks for jets obama himself wrote in to the stim bill, and the fact that the breaks obama screaming about are not even a tiny fraction of the deficit zero is running year over year.

These go for both parties
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 05, 2011, 06:51:26 AM: Quote from: whork25 on July 05, 2011, 06:48:11 AM
These go for both parties

sorry Blacken - obama had unfettered rule for 2 years, the RAT congress for 4 years, and they did not do a damn thing about any of this but make matters worse.

Only ones left who buy into this bullshit are the 95ers, LGBT, govt employee unions, and fringe elements that make up the Dem party.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 05, 2011, 12:55:13 PM: Bam recruits Corzine to woo back Wall $t.
July 5, 2011 | JOSH MARGOLIN
www.nypost.com

________________________ ________________________

President Obama is desperately putting his Wall Street stock in an unlikely old buddy.

The beleaguered president has recruited former Goldman Sachs head honcho Jon Corzine to shore up re-election funds from the banking industry, which is furious over Obama's financial regulations.

Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey who was blasted out of office by Republican Chris Christie in 2009, has attended secret meetings with the president and has been working on Obama's 2012 campaign for months, The Post has learned.

The Democrat, who now leads Manhattan-based brokerage MF Global, has been tasked with scraping up the very little banking-industry support Obama can still get.

And, like any good executive, Corzine is looking out for his own bottom line.

Success could resuscitate his political career with a top post -- such as treasury secretary or a key ambassadorship -- if there is a second Obama term.

< snip >

Corzine's name popped up on an attendance list for a controversial and secret White House sit-down with leaders of New York's financial sector late last month. He has also aggressively worked the phone lines and the cocktail-party circuit.

And in the last few months, Corzine hosted a high-end fund-raiser at his Fifth Avenue home for Obama.

He even secretly organized a meet-and-greet at the Four Seasons for key finance-industry execs and Obama's new chief of staff, former banker Bill Daley.

"We need our donors back," one Obama campaign official said. "It's a tough fight."

Many Wall Streeters are fuming over White House rhetoric painting them as "fat cats" who need to pay more taxes.

Top executives -- who contributed millions to Obama in 2008 -- have so far retaliated by closing their wallets to him.

________________________ ________________________ _____________

Benny, Straw, Vince, blacken, kc, anyone, anyone anyone? ? ? ? ?
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: GigantorX on July 05, 2011, 06:38:47 PM: Funny thread title.

The original "Private Jet" tax break, which was an asset depreciation tweak was in OBAMA'S STIMULUS PLAN.

Funny, ain't it?
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 06, 2011, 04:21:39 AM: JULY 4, 2011, 10:26 PM
In a Bill, Wall Street Shows Its Clout

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated PressSenator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.
Wall Street often tries to play down its influence in Washington. As Congress pushed through financial regulations that seemed to get watered down last year, Wall Street’s chief executives tried to suggest, somewhat surprisingly, that their highly paid lobbyists did not have much sway.

If there is still any question about how much power Wall Street actually has in Washington, here is some fresh evidence worth examining.

In a piece of legislation recently passed by the House and the Senate to revamp patent law, a tiny provision was inserted at the last minute called Section 18.

The provision, which my colleague Edward Wyatt detailed in an article ahead of the House’s vote on the bill last month, has only one purpose: to allow the banking industry to skirt paying for certain important patents involving “business methods.”

The provision even allows “retroactive reviews of approved business method patents, allowing the financial services industry to challenge patents that have already been found valid both at the U.S. Patent and Trade Office and in Federal Court,” according to Representative Aaron Schock, an Illinois Republican who tried to strike the provision.

The legislation was initially introduced by Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, with an even narrower view: to protect the interests of his big bank constituents in a dispute with DataTreasury Corporation of Plano, Tex., a company that owns dozens of patents for processing digital copies of checks.

Wall Street fought for the bill because it says it has been held hostage by holders of “business method” patents that should never have been granted by the patent office in the first place. Banks like JPMorgan Chase have been fighting DataTreasury over its patents for years.

The language in the bill is expansive. It covers patents for “a financial product or service” as well as “corresponding apparatus for performing data processing or other operations used in the practice, administration, or management of a financial product or service.”

But since the bill and Section 18 were passed and word has spread about it, dozens of other companies are starting to worry that the breadth of the provision may affect them too. And they are fighting back, hoping that the Senate — which still has to reconcile the House’s bill with its own — tosses the provision out.

“It would be a tragedy if the greed of the big banks and their willing accomplices in Congress use this important legislation to trample the rights of legitimate patent holders and in the process weaken the integrity of our patent system,” Tom Giovanetti, the president of the Institute for Policy Innovation, a conservative research group, said in a statement.

Steven F. Borsand, executive vice president for intellectual property at Trading Technologies International, which develops high-performance trading software for derivatives professionals, is worried that Section 18 will allow many of his banking clients to simply copy his company’s software.

“This isn’t just about DataTreasury,” he said. “Section 18 will affect many companies, including ours.” He expects that his company will be forced to “spend more time and money defending” its patents, he said in a statement, adding, “Only lawyers stand to benefit from this.”

Other companies, including high-tech firms like VeriFone and Square, the mobile phone payment start-up, could be affected by the law, putting their patents in jeopardy. Cantor Fitzgerald, known for its computer-based bond brokerage, has a number of valuable patents that could similarly fall under the legislation.

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, a new patent law may seem to be unimportant or to affect only a few inventors.

But Section 18 represents a much larger issue: It is perhaps the most blatant demonstration of the lobbying power of Wall Street and, just as important, the willingness of Congress to support the interests of the banks, even in the face of clear evidence that the law has no purpose other than to benefit the financial services industry.

When anyone suggests that Wall Street owns Congress — whether true or not — Section 18 will be Example A of a pork-barrel project for Wall Street. For lack of a better cliché, it might even be considered another backdoor bailout of the banks.

The banks “are attempting to write into law what they have been unable to achieve in litigation,” Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, wrote in a letter to colleagues.

Mr. Schumer has said he is simply defending New York banks against a company that has made a “cottage industry out of extracting legal settlements” from a dubious patent provision.

Admittedly, it seems somewhat preposterous that simply processing scanned checks, as DataTreasury does, could be a patentable business method. But we have courts, which have upheld these patents, for a reason.

Perhaps it would be acceptable if the law was about a specific patent, but experts like F. Scott Kieff, a professor at George Washington University Law School and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, worry that the law is too broad. “The scope is enormous and almost any method patent can qualify,” he wrote in a Hoover Institution journal.

He is worried about the law’s impact not just on investors in the United States, but also about even broader implications. “When word gets out that intellectual property rights are not being taken seriously in the U.S., especially for any class of patents that can be a convenient political target of powerful, well-heeled interest groups like banks, our voracious international competitors will pounce,” he said.

He may or may not be right about that. But if the legislation does become law, it will be another reason the “powerful, well-heeled” will appear to have bought Congress again.

Copyright 2011 The New York Times CompanyPrivacy PolicyNYTimes.com 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: MCWAY on July 06, 2011, 05:56:45 AM: Quote from: 333386 on July 05, 2011, 12:55:13 PM
Bam recruits Corzine to woo back Wall $t.
July 5, 2011 | JOSH MARGOLIN
www.nypost.com

________________________ ________________________

President Obama is desperately putting his Wall Street stock in an unlikely old buddy.

The beleaguered president has recruited former Goldman Sachs head honcho Jon Corzine to shore up re-election funds from the banking industry, which is furious over Obama's financial regulations.

Corzine, the former governor of New Jersey who was blasted out of office by Republican Chris Christie in 2009, has attended secret meetings with the president and has been working on Obama's 2012 campaign for months, The Post has learned.

The Democrat, who now leads Manhattan-based brokerage MF Global, has been tasked with scraping up the very little banking-industry support Obama can still get.

And, like any good executive, Corzine is looking out for his own bottom line.

Success could resuscitate his political career with a top post -- such as treasury secretary or a key ambassadorship -- if there is a second Obama term.

< snip >

Corzine's name popped up on an attendance list for a controversial and secret White House sit-down with leaders of New York's financial sector late last month. He has also aggressively worked the phone lines and the cocktail-party circuit.

And in the last few months, Corzine hosted a high-end fund-raiser at his Fifth Avenue home for Obama.

He even secretly organized a meet-and-greet at the Four Seasons for key finance-industry execs and Obama's new chief of staff, former banker Bill Daley.

"We need our donors back," one Obama campaign official said. "It's a tough fight."

Many Wall Streeters are fuming over White House rhetoric painting them as "fat cats" who need to pay more taxes.

Top executives -- who contributed millions to Obama in 2008 -- have so far retaliated by closing their wallets to him.

________________________ ________________________ _____________

Benny, Straw, Vince, blacken, kc, anyone, anyone anyone? ? ? ? ?

As I said on Benny's silly thread about the rich and "sharing the burden" on the G&O forum (where he often goes to keep from getting taken apart here):

Share burden? PLEASE!!!

Nearly half the employed people in this nation pay ZILCH on taxes.

All this "share burden" stuff is a cushy euphemism for lazy and/or covetous liberals who think they're entitled to the fruits of someone else's labor, simply because they happen to have a pulse.

Notice how all the rich liberals (in Hollywood and in DC) ain't scrimping on THEIR LAVISH LIFESTYLES. Michelle Obama runs her mouth about sacrificing.....then she flies to Spain and blows half a million bucks with her buddies.

John Kerry talked that same mess, only to hide his yacht in another state to AVOID paying taxes.

Then, comes the president and his yak about big business CEOs and their corporate jets. Did Obama forget his buddy, Jeffrey Immelt (CEO of GE, who ALSO DOUBLED as the head honcho of a crackpot left-winged cable news network, that can't get off Obama's sack to save its life) paid absolutely NOTHING in taxes last year.

Then, there are the left-winged goofies who want us to ride in juice boxes, disguised as cars, while they roll to "climate change" conferences in gas-guzzling armored SUVs.

Our current Speaker of the House flies coach; guess how our FORMER Speaker of the House traveled the country (and the world)....on AIR FORCE THREE, blowing six figures on hooch (alcohol, that is).

The bottom line is that this "shared sacrifice" stuff is pure BS. These politicians and liberals love to preach sacrifice....as long as it's SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY, not their own.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 06, 2011, 08:32:22 PM: Obama’s antitrust cop to step down

Source: The Washington Post

President Obama’s top antitrust cop, Christine Varney, is stepping down from her post to join a prestigious law firm, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Varney came into her job with high expectations that she would launch landmark cases against increasingly dominant firms such as Google. But she leaves for a senior position at Cravath, Swaine & Moore amid disappointment from some antitrust watchers and consumer advocates who say the Justice Department has been too soft on industry giants.

Under Varney, the Justice Department approved the controversial marriage of Ticketmaster and LiveNation, Google’s acquisition of a powerful travel software firm, and NBC’s merger with Comcast. In each of these instances, Varney tried attaching limits on how the companies could behave.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/obamas-a...
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 07, 2011, 01:32:06 PM: Jet industry furious at Obama
The Daily Caller ^ | 6 Jul 2011 | Caroline May

Much has been made of President Barack Obama’s repeated demonizing of corporate jets and the people who fly on them in his June 29th press conference.

While pundits and politicians haggle over whether alterations in the depreciation schedule of corporate jets will actually have an impact on the deficit, those in the general aviation trenches are furious.

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPO) President Craig Fuller told The Daily Caller that Obama’s comments have cast a pall over the industry, causing many who were considering buying a plane to back away from making a purchase.

“The industry has suffered terribly in the last two and a half years and it has just started to recover. Most of the signs were starting to look good,” said Fuller. “We are so angry as an industry and we have all come together to try to bring a more fair and balanced description to the debate.”

In response to Obama’s press conference, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) issued a letter to the president. The two organizations challenged the administration’s rhetoric and recalled a similar instance in which 20,000 IAM workers were laid off as a result of “ill-informed criticism of corporate jets and business aviation” and the 2008 downturn.

“Words have consequences and, in this industry, a few misguided words can put at risk even the ever-so-modest recovery we have experienced,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “What this industry and its workforce requires is more time to recover, a chance to book more orders and the opportunity to recall more workers.”

The president himself saw a benefit in providing tax breaks for corporate jets just in the past couple of years, signing two pieces of legislation that contained such provisions: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Small Business Lending Fund Act.
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: whork25 on July 08, 2011, 02:55:57 AM: Wall Street = Money gets people elected. Repub or dem. Its fucked up but nothing is gonna change it im afraid
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on July 12, 2011, 01:12:07 PM: BELTWAY CONFIDENTIAL
Politics from the Nation's Capital
40Share Print
Comments
Lobbyists give to lawmakers through honorary fees
By: Sarah Leitner | Special to the Examiner | 07/12/11 11:40 AM

Federal law limits how much corporate political action committees (PACs) can give to members of Congress, but high-powered K Street lobbysts have found a loophole that enables them to give an estimated $50 million to senators and representatives.

The gifts are in the form of dinners honoring the congressmen, according to the Sunlight Foundation, which released a report today describing how lobbysts are using the loophole to direct millions of dollars to influential members of Congress. Executive branch officials, including the president, can also be honored by such events.

But it's not just honoring dinners that are used by lobbyists to circumvent campaign contribution limits, according to Sunlight:

They also cover underwriting a conference or retreat held by officials, donating to a lawmaker’s charity and even giving to a nonprofit where a lawmaker sits on the board of directors. These situations, and some others, all fall under what the rule-makers—the Senate secretary and House clerk—call honorary and meeting expenses.

The biggest spenders were Chevron and Wal-Mart, which donated $2.9 million and $2.2 million respectively. And the biggest recipients were the Congressional Black Caucus with over $6 million, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus with over $4 million and President Barack Obama with over $1 million.

Nine of the top 10 recipients were Democrats, or in the case of the two ethnic caucus groups, heavily oriented to the Democratic Party. The lone top 10 recipient not associated with Democrats is Gen. David Petraus, recently appointed by President Obama as director of the CIA.

"Of the over $50 million in these reports, firms employing lobbyists spent $36.3 million honoring members of Congress and $11 million honoring executive branch officials in 2009 and 2010 In addition, nearly $645,000 went to legislative branch employees—mostly congressional staffers—the reports showed," Sunlight said in a news release describing the study.

You can read more about the Sunlight report here.

MORE ON THESE TOPICS: campaign contributions campaign

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/lobbyists-give-lawmakers-through-honorary-fees#ixzz1RvKgTPZ6
Title: Re: GOP Protecting The Rich: Corporate Jets, Oil Subsidies, Hedge Funds and Tax Cuts
Post by: Soul Crusher on November 01, 2011, 05:45:08 AM