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Return On Investment

Add comment January 29th, 2009at 06:58pm Posted by Eli

It never ceases to amaze me how well lobbying pays; not for the lobbyists themselves, but for the corporations that hire them.  The sums of money that our politicians give them for a mere pittance of donations is truly astounding.  Of course, it’s not the politicians’ own money; it’s our money, so they have no qualms about giving it away to the highest bidder (which, by the way, is never, ever us).

Check out this latest example: The 15 banks who received TARP money, plus Chrysler, GM, and GMAC, who did as well, spent almost $15 million to lobby Congress for bailout money.  Even if they only received money from the first TARP tranche, that’s $350 billion in exchange for $15 million.  That’s an ROI of, what, about 2.3 million percent?  And if you take out the auto companies, which had to pay more to get less, we’re looking at something like $330 billion in exchange for $8.5 million, an ROI of almost 4 million percent.

I think I probably donated around $300 to various candidates this past election cycle.  I’d like to know when I can expect my check for $12 million, please.

Entry Filed under: Corruption/Cronyism,Democrats,Economy,Politics,Republicans,Wankers