Congress Hits the Jackpot--A Fail-Safe Scheme to $$$$$$$'s (Congressmen, health care, suspect)

[thrillobyte]

Reading the headline:

Revealed: Millions Spent by Lobby Firms Fighting Obama Health Reforms
Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation

and it suddenly dawned on me: this is a brilliant ploy by Congress to rake in beaucoup $$$$$$'s to feather their nests. Every 10-15 years they raise the specter of health care reform and single-pay. This naturally sends the health care CEO's into a frenzy and they pack their lobbyists off to Washington DC to start throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at congressmen to stop the legislation. A dog and pony show ensues where some congress-critters support meaningful reform, some do not, some are in the center, but most support a cornucopia of plans, each contained in legislation the size of a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas. Congressional flags change colors so fast and furiously that the American people do not know who supports what from day to day. Eventually, after excruciating months of hemming and hawing, the public gets so confused or just plain bored with the whole thing that a new edition of Amazing Race is a welcomed relief from all the mayhem. The issue dies a quiet death--yet again. The health care industry is happy--the single-pay threat got shot down once more; the congressmen are happy--they raked in millions apiece to surreptitiously kill reform. The American people are too stupid to realize what happened because the Dancing With the Stars circus just started, apparently wiping their memory banks clean, so they're happy. The President is happy because a contentious issue got buried. The only unhappy ones are the few who stayed on top of the issue and know what was just lost. They, of course--too few in numbers to do anything meaningful---go back to their only recourse: scratching themselves and passing wind as they peck on their computer keyboards and post some more blogs. It's a deviously ingenious ploy--one Congress has become so adept at that I doubt the American public will ever really catch on to it.

[thrillobyte]

Mods, which forum was this moved to?

[thrillobyte]

So did Congress dream up a fool-proof way to riches or is the OP full of sh*t?

[Soccersupporter]

Originally Posted by thrillobyte

Reading the headline:



and it suddenly dawned on me: this is a brilliant ploy by Congress to rake in beaucoup $$$$$$'s to feather their nests. Every 10-15 years they raise the specter of health care reform and single-pay. This naturally sends the health care CEO's into a frenzy and they pack their lobbyists off to Washington DC to start throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at congressmen to stop the legislation. A dog and pony show ensues where some congress-critters support meaningful reform, some do not, some are in the center, but most support a cornucopia of plans, each contained in legislation the size of a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas. Congressional flags change colors so fast and furiously that the American people do not know who supports what from day to day. Eventually, after excruciating months of hemming and hawing, the public gets so confused or just plain bored with the whole thing that a new edition of Amazing Race is a welcomed relief from all the mayhem. The issue dies a quiet death--yet again. The health care industry is happy--the single-pay threat got shot down once more; the congressmen are happy--they raked in millions apiece to surreptitiously kill reform. The American people are too stupid to realize what happened because the Dancing With the Stars circus just started, apparently wiping their memory banks clean, so they're happy. The President is happy because a contentious issue got buried. The only unhappy ones are the few who stayed on top of the issue and know what was just lost. They, of course--too few in numbers to do anything meaningful---go back to their only recourse: scratching themselves and passing wind as they peck on their computer keyboards and post some more blogs. It's a deviously ingenious ploy--one Congress has become so adept at that I doubt the American public will ever really catch on to it.

Our tax $$$$ at work.

[thrillobyte]

Isn't this exactly how it happened in 93 under Clinton? 15 years later, Big Health Co's, Big Pharma, AMA are at it again. Like the sunspots cycle. Why don't the American people wake up?

Baucus took $1.5m from the health sector for his political fund in the past year. aucus holds dinners for health industry executives at which they pay thousands of dollars each to be at the table, and an annual fly-fishing and golfing weekend in his home state of Montana that lobbyists pay handsomely to attend. They have included John Jonas, who represents healthcare firms for Patton Boggs

Now here's the corker. Read what Jonas had to say about all this:

Jonas, who formerly worked on the congressional staff, acknowledges that political contributions are intended to buy influence and says it works.

"It would be very naive to say they're not influenced. The contributors certainly hope they're influencing and the recipients probably ultimately are influenced," he said. "I think it's a morally suspect practice, and then you have to look at its application to see if it's morally bankrupt ... I think what's bad about the system is it's got more and more lax over time.

"When I started in this practice you did not talk issues at a fundraiser. It was impolite. And then with this need for money, the system has got coarser over time so that they go around the room asking what issues you're interested in, much more of a linkage of dollars to a discussion of the issues now."

I mean this is the status quo!! It's talked about openly. Lobbyists freely admit they're paying money to congressional members to influence their votes and Congress votes in proportion to how much money they're given!!

[HappyTexan]

Go and look at the dealings Orrin Hatch has made with big pharma.
He's another one in bed with them.

[thrillobyte]

Washington DC itself is one hotbed of incest---and I don't mean familial.