Farewell to the Congress of corporate interests

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

This past term of Congress let the drug industry write much of a health care overhaul, extended of ethanol subsidies, passed the Marlboro Monopoly Act, crafted a subsidy-laden stimulus bill, gave us Cash-for-Clunkers and Cash-for-Caulkers, tried to pass a corporate-backed climate bill, and created a Wall Street "reform" that formalizes bailouts.

Call it the corporatist Congress.

H.R. 1, the first undertaking of the 111th Congress, was the $800 billion stimulus bill, a cornucopia of corporate welfare and special favors. The New York Times reported in early 2009, "the industries that stand to gain most from the proposed legislation were also working to help shape it even before Mr. Obama had won the election."

These included the likes of Google and other tech firms, but also the coal and power industries, whose five-year joint lobbying effort finally paid off with a billion-dollar earmark for a clean-coal project in Illinois.

The stimulus also created special subsidies for electric cars, high-speed rail, and other "green" technologies, including a "Production Tax Credit" for windmills -- allowing companies like General Electric to be paid, up front, for building windmills, even if they never spin. While profiting handsomely from these targeted tax breaks, GE also got $24.9 million in stimulus money for its Global Research Center.