How The Revolving Door May Help Kill Competition In The Music Industry
Last year, the more than century-old music company EMI Group announced it would split up in two, with the two parts sold to Universal Music Group and Sony Corporation in a multi-billion dollar deal. A number of consumer groups, lead by the Consumer Federation of America and Public Knowledge, have criticized the Universal-EMI Group merger in particular,
Continue Reading >>>
As More Political Money Becomes Secret, Which Agency Will Step Up To Enforce Disclosure?
An OpenSecrets investigation revealed that non-profits, which don’t have to disclose their donors, have become the real heavyweights in the 2012 election cycle, outspending their Super-PAC counterparts 3 to 2 on political expenditures. Ninety percent of these shadowy groups never reveal their donors. The Obama administration has made positive steps towards calling for disclosure of secretive nonprofits
Continue Reading >>>
The Senate Ethics Rules Are A Joke, And Here’s One Reason Why
Can Congress effectively police itself and stop corruption? We visited the Senate Ethics Office, and found a pretty blatant example of how lawmakers exploit a loophole in a rule designed ostensibly to stop revolving door bribery. In 2007, in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal, in which it became obvious that many lawmakers and
Continue Reading >>>
Lindsey Graham Intros Bill For New Offshore Drilling, 3 Days Later Gas Lobbyists Attend Fundraiser With Him
In our broken campaign finance system, Members of Congress know that they can introduce and advocate for legislation that benefits a certain industry or special interest group and then be lavished with campaign contributions from the same interests. On June 11th, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) introduced a bill titled the “South Carolina Off-shore Drilling Act,”
Continue Reading >>>
How JP Morgan Makes Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars On Food Assistance Programs
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) does a lot to help out low-income American families — 46 million Americans participate in the program, half of whom are children. This means there’s lots of money in SNAP — thanks to the weak economy, SNAP expenditures increased from $30 billion in 2007
Continue Reading >>>
Billionaires Behind Push In North Carolina To Transfer $40 Million Of Taxpayer Money To Private Schools
North Carolina House Majority Leader Paul Stam (R) has an idea for fixing our country’s education system — dump tens of millions of taxpayer dollars into private schools. Stam is a sponsor of House Bill 1104, which would utilize the “North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program” to shift up to $40 million of taxpayer funds in
Continue Reading >>>
Connecticut Governor Rejects ‘Disclosure On Steroids’ Bill
Last week, Governor Dannel Malloy (D-Conn.) had an opportunity to enact significant statewide campaign finance reform. Instead, he vetoed legislation that promised to be one of the most powerful disclosure laws in any state. As Public Campaign’s Nick Nyhart put it: “Malloy had a chance to be a national leader on reform, but opted to side with wealthy
Continue Reading >>>
JPMorgan Is Spencer Bachus’s 2nd-Highest Donor As He Fails To Put Jamie Dimon Under Oath
Today, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee about his megabank’s stunning $2 billion loss. As during his testimony before the Senate last week, Dimon is being shown enormous deference by members of Congress, many of whom receive campaign contributions from Dimon’s bank. Take, for example the committee’s chairman,
Continue Reading >>>