U.S. Lawmakers Heavily Invested in Defense
April 4th, 2008One for your Not-News-to-Me file folder.
Via: AP:
Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group.
Not all the companies in which lawmakers invested are typical defense contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received defense-related contracts, notes the report by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics.
The center’s review of lawmakers’ 2006 financial disclosure statements suggests that members’ holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt.
Considering how much legislators are paid, you have to imagine that most of the liquid worth making up their stock portfolio comes from lobbyist bribes, many of which are likely from the very industries invested in. It’s the Circle Of Death! And It Kills Us All!
You could probably have fun retooling all the lyrics in that song, might be a good to remix, put on YouTube, show to your son when he’s old enough to learn about Hyenas and government, ect.
your blog is awesome. ty for this post. the article is sickening. damn politicians
Whenever I mention to somebody the million$ politicians have made from their investments thanks to the policies they’ve pursued (think of Dick Cheney and all the filthy lucre he has made off his Haliburton holdings while V.P.), they always say “But their investments are in a blind trust, so they have no control over them”. But there is no law that prevents them from having contact with the executors of their investments. If we weren’t a hopelessly corrupt banana republic at this point, politicians would have to liquidate their investments with any company doing business with the government. Problem is, there are hardly any corporations that don’t have government contracts these days…