We see the results all around us. The catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the coal mine disaster in West Virginia, the meltdown of the financial markets due to the subprime mortgage abuses – all of these terrible things happened due to weak regulation and non-existant oversight. All of these can be traced back to the scourge of lobbyists in Washington DC who have created a culture of greed and corruption. Of course, the lobbyists would be powerless if the lawmakers in Congress weren't more than willing to take the money.
Stephen Richter, writing in the Financial TImes Deutschland, explains how Washington lobbyists and their willing co-conspirators in Washington are not just ruining the environment and creating dangerous working conditions. They are undermining the overall competitiveness of the American economy: USA vom Lobbyismus geschwächt /How Lobbyists are Weakening the US:
Über die zerstörerische Wirkung der Lobbyarbeit auf Gesellschaft,
Politik und Wirtschaft der USA wurde viel geschrieben. Doch das Problem
hat eine noch größere Dimension. Denn die aggressive Kampagne von
US-Unternehmen für Deregulierung – gepaart mit laxer Umsetzung
bestehender Normen und Richtlinien seitens der Regierung – untergräbt
eine der tragenden Säulen für die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der
US-Wirtschaft.(Much has been written about the destructive effect of
lobbying activity on U.S. society,
politics and economy. But there is an
even greater dimension to the problem.
For the aggressive push of U.S .companies to deregulate – combined with
the lax enforcement of existing norms and guidelines on the part of the
government – is undermining one of the key pillars in US economic
competitiveness.)
Read my entire translation of the piece at Watching America:
