The crony corruption that infects Washington D.C., begs the question: “Why aren’t these people thrown in jail like Martha Stewart?”
Her crime was minor league compared to the insider deals going on in the halls of Congress and the White House today.
Paul Schweizer’s book, “Throw Them All Out,” shows “how politicians and their friends get rich off insider stock tips, land deals, and cronyism that would send the rest of us to prison” with facts, dates and historical statements that begs the earlier question. Yet, because they make their own rules, D.C. deems such illicit gain as “ethical.”
So, do I think all people in D.C. do this? Schweizer provides enough resource material that allows us to look deeper into all our elected officials’ records (and I suggest you do).
It’s not just the elected in D.C. that are making big money on what almost all Americans would consider illegal insider deals. It’s especially true for billionaires George Soros, Warren Buffett, Jeffrey Immelt and those with direct contact (and bundled campaign contributions) to our elected leaders. Here are two samples:
Buffett won big by buying/selling bank stocks that got or did not get TARP funds. He bought numerous shares in companies that were enriched by stimulus/omnibus/budgets by buying/selling green energy/railroad/etc., before the laws were enacted or grants/loans were given. How? He has direct private access to the highest politicians in the land. “The term ‘social compact’ sounds benign. But when did the American voters make a compact to turn one of the richest men in America into one of the biggest recipients of taxpayer subsidies (118)?” We didn’t!
Soros more than doubled his wealth since Obama’s election by heavily investing in companies that were later given grants/loans by Department of Energy and more. How? Here’s an excerpt from the book:
“…What is remarkable is that once Obama was elected, Soros not only provided advice and direction on the President’s plans for an economic stimulus, but he also had regular private consultations and meetings with White House senior advisers while he was making investment decisions related to the stimulus program … days after President Obama was elected, Soros was helping to set the agenda. Soros had regular meetings with senior White House officials…” (127-8)
The list of companies invested by Soros boggles the minds of normal Americans when you compare the list to those that received grants, funds or loans from the taxpayer via D.C.
Even “Former politicians are finding a career that can be even more lucrative than lobbying: providing ‘political intelligence’ to investment funds, based on private conversations with congressional staffers and sitting senators…And it’s not illegal for a politician to share this information (120-1).” Maybe it should be.
In my opinion, after multiple terms in office, anyone who allows such nonsense to take place under their watch, voted for the insane $17 trillion-plus debt, created the highest energy dependence in our history, oversaw the imploding manufacturing base, supported the out-of-control spending and more should never be re-elected.
We need new people in D.C. We need people of principle, morals, ethics and leadership to get us out of this mess.
Enough is enough! To start, I’m voting for Rick Santorum.