Forum Post: Did you see ABRHAMHOFF on 60 mins last night????? He's made IT public!!!! Now CONGRESS do something about this!
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 7, 2011, 11:27 a.m. EST by changeinmotion2
(66)
from Portland, ME
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/06/politics/abramoff-ethics/?hpt=us_c2
Abramoff said that his firm, for one, became expert at slipping in seemingly innocuous, often confusing language into legislation to benefit his clients. Other techniques included lavishing sports and events tickets on congressmen and their staffers and providing them with free food and drink (such as at his former Washington restaurant, Signatures). "It is being done every day, and it is still being done," he told CBS of what he deemed "bribery," giving gifts to policymakers. "Our system is flawed and has to be fixed."
thanks for posting the interview!
see if this interests you:
http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupied-amendment-spread-the-word/
political corruption goes beyond campaign financing
Lobbying should be done by e-mail ONLY and be fully transparent. There's nothing wrong with a person or company making their case to congress. There is everything wrong with gifts, secret deals, campaign bundling and revolving doors. It's obvious corruption and IT HAS TO STOP!
transparency would go a long way to controlling policy
I advisory public vote on important issues would also help
And the part where his "clients" did not see this as doing anything wrong.
People really need to focus on lobbyists. There is a revolving door of those who work for/as a congressman to a lobbying group and then back again. Another insidious group is the American Legal Exchange Council.
End the Fed
bribing politicians with tickets to sporting events ?
ah
offering a job to chief staffer of a politician at 3 times their current rate
wow, with that and this http://www.hulu.com/watch/151119/the-end-of-poverty
it is only a matter of time, we will prevail.
boycott capitalism, force change -- http://wesower.org
The "slip" in the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, signed by Bill Clinton in the final daze of his reign is a major cause of our economic catastrophe.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/666_is_money/3187334305/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiicN0Kg10
I actually coulnt watch the entire interview. It was revolting. I have been speaking out against lobbying for years, and i already knew what tactics they use, but to watch this guy describe what he did, and think about the fact that he served less than four years in jail for it, was just too much...
Power corrupts.
Ultimate power corrupts ultimately.
The founding fathers did their job for free.
The current corruption in politics is a magnet for thieves and indolents.
You want your country to be managed by thieves?
Here is a list of the top ten companies that not only paid little or no taxes but got huge corporate welfare from we the people.
1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings. Note: This claim was made by Forbes.com in April of '10'. Shortly after, they published a followup article which included a rebuttal by Exxon Mobil. Forbes.com did acknowledge a mistake based on incorrect line items filed by Exxon Mobil. http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2010/04/07/exxon-says-it-does-pay-u-s-income-taxes
2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.
3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.
4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.
5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.
6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.
7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.
8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.
9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.
10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.
great points modest capitalist! ~cheers~
Now it's officially spam.
Don't forget Big Box retailers such as Wal Mart! Do google search of 'Wal Mart Subsidies' 'Target Subsidies' 'Big Box Subsidies' 'Tobacco Subsidies' and we're talking close to trillions.
http://money.cnn.com/2004/05/24/news/fortune500/walmart_subsidies/ .."report says $1B in government subsidies have aided the retailer's expansion".(from Good Jobs First, a Washington-based subsidy watchdog group.)
http://www.bigboxtoolkit.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20:subsidies&catid=32:key-studies&Itemid=52 'The expansion of big-box retailers has been financed in part by massive development subsidies and tax advantages provided by local and state governments. These studies document those subsidies and their failure to produce real economic benefits for communities.'
So go Occupy DC!
Exactly! What the hell are these people doing in lower Manhattan?
I wonder if he supports OWS?