Friday, March 26, 2010

NJ Gov. Bans State Gov't From Lobbying For More... State Gov't

You're not going to believe this, but the newly elected Gov. of New Jersey, Chris Christie, has just banned state agencies from using - what else - tax dollars to lobby for themselves.

What's so totally unbelievable is that this is legal in the first place. State agencies using tax dollars (do they have another source of income?) to pay lobbyists to influence lawmakers to pass laws that ostensibly would get those agencies more money.

The fact that it was just banned means it's been going on - and in how many other states????

If you don't see the pernicious insanity in that, then I don't know what to say. If something doesn't scare you about government lobbying government to make government bigger, then nothing will.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "government sponsored enterprises", that were started and funded by the federal government. They were supposed to be private corporations. But something happened along the way - they gained so much money and power they became a strong influence on the government that was supposed to regulate them. And that influence meant that the overseer under George W. Bush's administration cried foul, but was shot down by the Democrats, who received massive donations from the CEO's of the companies. The corporate boards were also full of democrats. It was in essence the same thing as occurred in New Jersey.

You see, government tends to create monsters that grow bigger.

More on the New Jersey thing here.

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