Another B Ark Business for Bush: or Why GOP Wants Campaign Finance Now

[McCamy Taylor]

Way back in early 2001, it became clear that the Bush administration was adopting a faulty business policy. They were doing everything they could to maximize the price of oil, even though oil was only one part of the economy. (Blame it on the fact that both the president and vice president were from Texas and from the oil industry, something that our Founders had tried to prevent.) If left unchecked, this trend was bound to alienate Non Oil Big Business (NOBB), especially that sector of business that actually relied upon oil for its productivity. This includes manufacturing, transportation, travel and tourism, the retail industry (especially for perishible items). Drive oil prices high enough, and suddenly W. would no longer be the friend of NOBB.

The tipping point appears to have occured around Winter 2004/2005 when the Bush administration, not content with $60/barrel crude, decided that it was time to destabilize Iran's oil production. NBC/GE (manufacturing NOBB) turned sharply away from the Bush Administration almost overnight, with a massive media blitz about how bad an invasion of Iran would be, how the US could never sustain such a war etc. The rift between NBC and the Bush administration has only worsened since then.

Not all sectors of the business community have turned on the Bush Administration. Oil loves them. Oil is making out like bandits. Oil ancillary businesses are making out like bandits, too. However, Oil alone can not fill the GOP coffers.

That is where the B Ark companies come in. B Ark is from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. These are the companies who do not actually DO ANYTHING, so they do not need supplies like oil (or, now that immigration is an issue, labor). I am referring to the insurance industry, banking, telecommunications. They do virtual work and get real dollars of our money. The GOP can keep them happy by writing federal regulations that give them monopolies or crazy powers (like the power to garnish our wages) at no cost to the GOP (yet--the cost comes in the form of votes at election time) and in exchange the B Ark Businesses give the GOP lots of contributions.

The problem is that the number of companies in American that actually DO SOMETHING (i.e need fuel and labor) is higher than the number of B Ark Companies. And the Companies that DO SOMETHING are getting mad and turning to the Democrats with their checkbooks in hand.

And this is why we see the GOP Congress suddenly realize that Campaign Finance laws might be a good idea.