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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums50% Of 'Retiring' Senators Now Become Lobbyists, Up From 3% A Few Decades Ago
This is from a little while ago, but Hunter Walk alerts us to a buried gem in a NY Times' book review of This Town by Mark Leibovich -- a book about Washington DC that sounds just horrific (not the book itself, but the concept of wanting to know any more about DC). The review notes that Leibovich buried an interesting statistic deep in the book:
in 1974, 3 percent of retiring members of Congress became lobbyists. Now 50 percent of senators and 42 percent of congressmen do. No one goes home anymore.
We've talked plenty about the corrupting influences of the revolving door between industries and the government. Not all lobbyists or lobbying is bad, per se, but it's a symptom of the times we live in and the business of influence. It highlights the kind of "soft corruption" that Larry Lessig has been talking about for years, where it's not out-and-out bribery, but merely the promise of a cushy job down the road that can have tremendous impact on the way the government functions.
And, with so much money flowing into lobbying efforts, we're building a system where political entrepreneurship outweighs market entrepreneurship -- and that's exceptionally dangerous for our economy and our future. Political entrepreneurs -- those who manipulate the system for their own benefit -- tend to focus on locking up value, limiting competition and providing themselves with greater control over the market. Market entrepreneurs are more focused on innovation, expanding the pie and economic growth. Tragically, political entrepreneurs, via massive lobbying efforts, like to pretend they're about market entrepreneurship, and we get a system of crony capitalism that actually does significant harm to the economy.
When nearly half of everyone in Congress who is retiring jumps into that business of helping political entrepreneurship, the system is completely broken.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130819/00581624225/50-retiring-senators-now-become-lobbyists-up-3-few-decades-ago.shtml
arcane1
(38,613 posts)It's become an internship rather than a civic commitment.
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)not that either will ever retire. And hell, if Pat Leahy who's been in the Senate for coming up on 40 years is still one of the least wealthy people on the Hill, you gotta figure that this was never about him getting rich.
I have quite a bit of confidence that the folks we replace Pat and Bernie with, won't become lobbyists either.
We grow good pols here.
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)is pretty good money too.
I remember doing the calculations for Biden's lifetime earnings before he became Vice President. One interesting thing was, that back in 1973, when Biden started, a Congressperson made more money than about 70% of US households. By 2008, they made more money than about 95% of US households.
He may not be "getting rich" by some standards, but he has hardly taken a vow of poverty either.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)ck4829
(34,966 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)Of course that 50% figure is already much higher if you account for congresscritters who are 70 and older, those who 'retire' in the wake of a huge scandal and those who are making a run for the white house...
Skittles
(152,963 posts)they simply get paid more for whoring as private citizens
valerief
(53,235 posts)radhika
(1,008 posts)The blocking of votes, obstructionism, watering down reforms and being adept at trolling for dollars.
Congress is the farm team for K Street.
Rex
(65,616 posts)We can all thank Ronald Wilson Reagan for allowing these special interest groups the right to control Wall Street and Congress starting in the 1980s.
Our political system is critically ill.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)I think we are now "reaping a whirlwind" from this kind of creeping aggregated corruption in DC
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)Not only senators but also generals and high ranking officers who end up on the boards of major weapons manufacturers. We just don't have enough people standing in the streets like they do in other countries demanding change. The very people we elect to represent us .. are giving us the finger. It's as if we passively crouch down as someone continues to beat us with a baseball bat. Why do we allow 'them' and their greed to inflict so much pain on society?
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)avaistheone1
(14,626 posts)I certainly agree that more support must be given to publicly funded elections.