There has never been any doubt in my mind that Members of Congress were too stupid to craft, read, and understand the actual unreadable legalese found in most legislation. And, that the staff lawyers only served to keep their members out of the slam while hiding the work of the lobbyists. Something that has just been confirmed by the progressive New York Times.

Banks’ Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills

Bank lobbyists are not leaving it to lawmakers to draft legislation that softens financial regulations. Instead, the lobbyists are helping to write it themselves.

One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month — over the objections of the Treasury Department — was essentially Citigroup’s, according to e-mails reviewed by The New York Times. The bill would exempt broad swathes of trades from new regulation.

In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill. Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)

The lobbying campaign shows how, three years after Congress passed the most comprehensive overhaul of regulation since the Depression, Wall Street is finding Washington a friendlier place.

The cordial relations now include a growing number of Democrats in both the House and the Senate, whose support the banks need if they want to roll back parts of the 2010 financial overhaul, known as Dodd-Frank.

And as its lobbying campaign steps up, the financial industry has doubled its already considerable giving to political causes. The lawmakers who this month supported the bills championed by Wall Street received twice as much in contributions from financial institutions compared with those who opposed them, according to an analysis of campaign finance records performed by MapLight, a nonprofit group.

In recent weeks, Wall Street groups also held fund-raisers for lawmakers who co-sponsored the bills. At one dinner Wednesday night, corporate executives and lobbyists paid up to $2,500 to dine in a private room of a Greek restaurant just blocks from the Capitol with Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, Democrat of New York, a co-sponsor of the bill championed by Citigroup.

Read  more at Banks' Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills - NYTimes.com

Bottom line …

What I see here is a political extortion scheme. Legislation is suggested that would impact two different groups, consumer organizations and industry supporters. Both rush forward with money and voter support to purchase politicians on both sides of the aisle. And, in the end, the industry wins and the consumer loses. The consumer organization engages in an orgy of fundraising for the next round and the industry members set aside a portion of their new profits to begin anew corrupting politicians to advance their self-serving interests.

It appears that there is no difference between the republicans and the democrats, with the exception that some democrats want to destroy the United States as part of their political agenda. The republicans just want to rob consumers blind.

Not only do we need to elect a new breed of politicians, but to convince them only to consider three-page, single-purpose bills readable in English.

-- steve

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