The WSJ points out in Treasury Bailout's Limits on Lobbyists Still Haven't Taken Effect that:
A plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to limit lobbyists' influence over the $700 billion bailout program has yet to get off the ground -- even as the program nears an end.
Just a few hours after being sworn in last January, Mr. Geithner promised to craft rules preventing external influence over bailout decisions. More than six months later -- and 100 days before the financial-industry bailout program is scheduled to stop taking applications for aid -- those rules have yet to be finalized.
Treasury whines that it has been busy, but the obvious conclusion is that it has not been trying very hard on this matter, as shown by the following:
When the Treasury announced its plans to curb bailout lobbying earlier this year, a spokeswoman said the department intended to publish weekly communication logs showing contact between public officials and external entities -- such as lobbyists -- discussing rescue plans for specific institutions. No such logs have been made available.
We have Government run by the allies of Big Finance for the benefit of Big Finance.
The Special Inspector General of the TARP bailout (SIGTARP) has reported that there have been $23.7 trillion or so dollars spent or backstopped to the financial sector within the past year. In contrast, a pittance has been spent on the people. The trio of actors: the Fed, the President/Treasury, and the Congress have all followed Sutton's law and have gone where the money is (was).
This is why the economic downturn has gone on so long and has been so severe. The guilty have been rewarded; the needy and innocent have had little help.
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