I just discovered the most absurd proof that our political system has gone completely out of control: there's a lobby for lobbyists, and since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, they are spending more than ever.
Check out these numbers from the Center for Responsive Politics:
From 2001 to 2006, the amount of money spent by the lobbyist lobby more than tripled, increasing from $1.8 million to $6.0 million.
In the year after 9/11, there was a 75% increase in pro-lobbying lobbying.
In the year we invaded Iraq, there was another 56% increase in pro-lobbying lobbying.
In all, nearly $30 million has been spent by the pro-lobbying lobby since 9/11. The only reason that seems like a small figure is because we've become numb to the staggering levels of corruption under the Bush regime.
In 2001, lobbyists earned $1.63 billion from their ability to influence the federal government; last year, they earned $2.59 billion, a 59% increase.
Contributions from lobbyists to political campaigns have spiked along with their wealth.
In the 2000 presidential election year, lobbyists donated $16.2 million and by the 2004 election, they donated $27.6 million (a 70% increase from 2000).
In the 2002 mid-terms, lobbyists donated $17.1 million (a 70% increase from 1998), and in the 2006 mid-terms, they donated $23.3 million (a 36% increase from 2002).
The reason for all this lobbying by lobbyists couldn't be more plain: they like money, and since 9/11 and Iraq, there's been more federal money up for grabs than ever before -- in the form of federal contracts.
Under the Bush regime, the value of these federal contracts has exploded, growing from $203.1 billion in 2000 to $412.1 billion in 2006.
Luckily for the lobbyists, most of these contracts have had limited or no competition. According to Henry Waxman's most recent report on the Bush regime's contracting practices, federal contracts worth $1.1 trillion are plagued by problems of waste, fraud, and abuse.
The Bush regime now spends $0.40 of every single discretionary dollar on contracts. The Department of Defense alone spends $300 billion on such contracts each year.
The top 20 firms get 38% of the federal contracting pie.
Essentially, the Bush regime is stealing from the federal treasury and rewarding the wealthy. It's corporate welfare, and for lobbyists and their clients, it's manna from heavens.
Who pays the price?
First, the next generation of taxpayers suffer because the federal contracting bonanza needlessly adds to our federal deficit.
Second, all taxpayers suffer. The ones who suffer the most might be upper income taxpayers. Not the super-wealthy, but the ones in the 80th to 99th percentile bracket who pay 45% of all taxes. Taken into account that a portion of the federal contracting budget is funded by deficit spending, these taxpayers (who average about $120,000 in annual income per family) are paying roughly $12,000 each year on federal contracts. Ironically, these people tend to be Republican -- about 57% of them voted for Bush in 2004. So, I guess you could say, they are getting what they deserve. Still, I think if they knew what was happening, they'd be outraged, because most of the obscene profits from these contracts go to the wealthiest 0.5% of the country who earn 16% of the income.
If the merely well-to-do are getting screwed to pay the super-rich, then truly the system is broken.