Those nasty lobbyists... and you ' re pretty nasty, too

Spoiler alert: farther down in this post I'll blame myself and you for what lobbyists get away with. But first, let's take a look at what those nasty lobbyists are up to. A study of the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that companies with lots of overseas manufacturing lobbied Congress for a tax break, promising to invest the savings in America to create jobs, then used it for dividends and stock buybacks. The study estimates that all the companies affected by the tax break brought back almost $300 billion and spent 92% of it on stock buybacks. According to its own SEC filings, Dell Computer, which lobbied especially hard, brought $4 billion back home as a result, and spend half of it on stock buybacks, but only $100 million on a new plant in North Carolina. (This was stupid behavior by Dell management, since it (a) paid more than twice what the stock is worth now, and (b) investing the money in research and development would have been a lot better for the company in the long-term.) A separate study finds that the oil industry is spending more than $44 million a year lobbying federal agencies and Congress, mostly trying to slow down incentives for alternative energy development. In both cases, what we have here is corporate lobbyists who are clearly urging lawmakers to do something which, no matter what the lobbyists say, is not in the public interest. So what are we going to do about it? The problem is that lawmakers kind of need lobbyists. No, seriously. Lawmakers are capable of passing laws with all sorts of unintended negative consequences, and lobbying can sometimes be a good thing, explaining to lawmakers before they act what they are close to screwing up. The problem, as I see it, is not the lobbyists, exactly, although if they had any sense of shame it might help the republic. The problem is that we in the media aren't giving you enough plain information on what they're up to, and when we do, you don't act on it. Lawmakers really do listen to members of the public, because they want votes and they wanted campaign contributions and they want volunteers. Regardless of whether they want to serve or they want the benefits of serving, they want to know what the public thinks so they can cast all or at least most of their votes in the same direction. But all too often, the public doesn't think at all, or doesn't express its will, preferring to sit back, let things happen, and then complain about it. For example, suppose Americans knew that U.S. companies with overseas manufacturing had screwed the nation with their unfilled promises to get a tax break. Suppose the late night talk show hosts made jokes about it and it was the topic at every bar. The letters and emails and phone calls would start pouring in on Capitol Hill. And some lawmakers would see opportunity in getting in front of all that anger, and would introduce new tax rules on those companies, and new reporting requirements, and when those companies protested, they would say, "You brought this on yourself, bucko!" If there was the same widespread awareness of oil company lobbying, members of Congress would be inundated with messages from constituents saying "Don't you dare stand in the way of these incentives for alternative energy, and I'll be watching." We who report the news need to make a big deal of stories like this. And you need to act, too. So I repeat the most important point of this post: lawmakers do want to hear from the public, they do want to know your views because they do want to be re-elected, and all you have to do is tell them. Don't accuse them, don't threaten them, just write them and say, "I heard about this, I don't approve, and I really don't want you or anyone else in Congress to stand in the way of alternative energies." Or even just, "I heard about the study that showed companies with overseas manufacturing lied to get a tax break and essentially defrauded Congress and America, and I hope you read the study yourself, because what those companies did is harmful to you, harmful to me, and indeed harmful to the rest of the business community." Postscript written Monday morning: Look for the hand of lobbyists in the proposed federal reforms of investments. The Wall Street Journal this morning blasted the White House for not cracking down on the three major credit rating services, which gave good ratings to risky investments. The New York Times this morning said there isn't enough regulations of banks.

Comments

[Jim Flint]

Jeez Howard, you're talking about reporting hard news! That just doesn't happen anymore. If it did, our society would be a much different place. And if some industrious reporter were to investigate the goings on between lobbyists, and legislators, there might be a few indictments in the offing. It seems that the hardest news we get is the pandering of the local stations to the Click-It or Ticket program. (Hanging a ticket on the passenger in a pick up, while 3 big guys are riding in the bed... ????) I wonder which lobbyists are behind that brilliant move.
Bottom line, I agree with your thesis. But how will the public be informed? Where will we go to get our hard news? Who is willing to step on toes?