The Lobbyist’s Playbook
Most Sundays at 06:00 PM Central Time my wife and I watch 60 Minutes on CBS. Last Sunday’s program had a very interesting segment about political corruption in the USA.
A segment titled “Jack Abramoff: The lobbyist’s playbook” showed to Naïve Americas something that has, is and will continue at the highest levels of politics in our country. When you are not a politician you might be faced by business situations in which you are privy to some information that could make you money called “insiders trading”. For example, if a company is about to purchase a second company, making the stock of the second company be worth much more that its current value, and based on this information which is only known to top executives, you go and buy stock on the second company, you have the opportunity to make a nice profit in a matter of hours or days. The laws of the United States of America forbid such behavior to typical Naïve Americans. As a deterrent such actions are punishable by several years in prison. BUT if you are a politician passing laws that will make a company’s stock go up in price and based on such information purchase stock and after the law is passed, sell it at a profit (insiders trading), you do not have to worry. The law, made by and for politicians, does not consider your unethical and immoral actions as a crime.
During the 60- Minutes segment, Democratic and Republic politicians were asked if they had profit from “insiders trading”. Most of them denied it. Some acknowledge it by stating that for them it is not unlawful. This is why 99% of politicians leave office millions of dollars richer that when they were elected.
About a decade ago, I was looking into doing business with countries in Latin America. One of the forms I obtained from the US government to consider expenses for tax purposes had an entry labeled: Bribes. It is considered common business practice in Latin America to bribe politicians as part of regular business. Of course, in the USA no one would ever consider bribing politicians. We have laws that make legal all types of bribes placing our politicians on the top of corruption. The only difference is that we make it legal.
I know of a couple brothers in the Twin Cities area that paid off politicians to move the location of Interstate 35 in order to have it pass by their property considerably raising its value. During the 60 Minutes segment, it was mentioned, a politician that knowing that a road was going to be built, purchased land at discounted prices and after he made the new road pass by his new property, he cashed in a nice profit.
Not sure if the 60 Minutes segment brought up something new to most Naïve Americans, but politicians have been taking advantage of their position since the USA became an independent country. With time, politicians have made huge advances in power allowing them to make millions of dollars in office while many Naïve Americans part of their constituency have, are and will be loosing their jobs. I guess we called this the American way of life.
Next time you are going to the polls, make sure that the politicians you are electing are less prone to corruption. Try to push current politicians to change the law making it a crime to take advantage of their political status.
The Naïve American
