Viewpoints: Taxes pay government to lobby itself

[bridgit]

California has the largest state economy, and the state Capitol jostles with players seeking a piece of the action. The biggest single lobbyist, however, is not Wal-Mart, Apple, Toyota, the entertainment industry or some fat-cat Jack Abramoff figure. The biggest lobbyist is government itself.

In 2009, government-to-government lobbying in California totaled $50.1 million, representing 18.3 percent of the total. According to this figure, derived from official state sources, government-to-government lobbying is the single largest category of lobbying in the Golden State.

This activity imposes costs on society but for too long has gone largely unnoticed.

The state of California, like most jurisdictions, categorizes lobbying by sector. Much of the lobbying is undertaken by private-sector companies in finance, health care, energy, and real estate. On the taxpayer-funded side, the players include county and city governments, from San Diego to Susanville. They also include state agencies and the many state commissions, from the powerful California Coastal Commission all the way to the California Sea Urchin Commission.

Public education, California's biggest budget item, is one of the major players in government lobbying, with massive entities such as the Los Angeles Unified School District, the community college districts and the county offices of education. Public-sector unions also qualify and, like school districts, lobby state government extensively.

Such tax-funded activity accounts for nearly one out of every four dollars of lobbying, an astonishing amount. The taxpayers who provide the funding, and whose interests may not be the same, have good reason to care about the rather stark differences between the two kinds of lobbying.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/03/13/2603945/viewpoints-taxes-pay-government.html

[truedelphi]

1. It sounds like being a lobbysist might be the way to go.

If I weren't so busy setting up my own insurance company, (how better to profit from the mandates?) I would definitely go that route.

Vichy Care. We take your premium dollars so other insurers don't get them.

[AllentownJake]

2. Credit Defaul Swap issuer

You just take the money and keep it, no need to pay those pesky occasional claims...it is ok, the person who bought it knows you aren't going to pay, they just need to tell the government they have a hedge for asset ratio tests.

[truedelphi]

5. Sounds like you qualify for a position in

Our Controller's office. Just go to www.executivejobsat.lowages.com and fill out the app.

Just don't expect any bennies from the position!

[bridgit]

3. I love that tag line - Vichy Care is going places!

:bounce:

[truedelphi]

4. And don't believe what the other, bigger insurers are saying about us!

Just because our premiums are only one dollar a year for an entire family, doesn't mean our services will differ from the Big guys in the Industry. We will offer the exact same level of services that the Big Insurers do.

You have a health need that needs to be addressed? Get your doctor to tell us what treatment you need, and we will point out that that treatment is experimental and cannot be covered!

And if it is not expermimental, we will stall it! Or simply outright deny it!

And we will lie to you too!

So don't worry - you're not really taking any sort of risk by choosing us.

Vichy Care. We take your premium dollars so that other insurers can't get them!