Skip to contentBlog
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has a problem. It is loaded with corporate money, full of rich fellowships for Washington, D.C. influence peddlers, masquerading as conservatives, who wallow in plush offices figuring out how to assure that big corporations rule the U.S. and the rest of the world. During the past twenty-two years, the AEI,…
Two views of the nation’s capital were on display last week. At 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the main event was the ceremony for President Bush’s signing of still another massive tax cut designed primarily for the wealthy. On hand were the usual bevy of reporters and cameras to record the event. There were Republican leaders from…
There is little doubt that the Federal Communications Commission, by a split 3 to 2 vote, will open more doors for the giant media moguls to acquire more radio, television and newspaper properties in cities, towns and rural areas of this country. By the same decision, they will close more doors on ideas, speakers, writers,…
May 29, 2003 H. Walker Feaster IIIInspector GeneralFederal Communications Commission445 12th Street, S.W.Washington, D.C., 20554 Dear Mr. Feaster: By now you have read in detail, no doubt, what you and your office have sensed. The Center for Public Integrity has assembled from FCC travel records data revealing that industry groups and companies regulated by the…
Do new technologies trump power and decentralize it as some technophiles believe? Not if repressive power gets there first. Here are three examples from the federal government where either corporate or political power has blocked technology from helping you assess your elected Representatives and receive a more efficient government. 1. Log onto the website of…
Never try to cut a deal with the lobbyists for the credit and banking industry. Whatever the compromise, they always come back with their hands out for more favors and bigger loopholes to gut protections for consumers and leave them defenseless against both price and privacy exploitation. They’re proving it once again with a massive…
This is a column of tidbits — to be sure, important tidbits. I think they are part of a mosaic of our times. But I’ll let you decide your favorite theme that runs through them. Here goes. 1. Congress refuses to raise the federal minimum wage to the level of purchasing power that existed in…
The upcoming California gubernatorial recall election (the first ever) has been described as a “circus,” a “farce,” quot;wacky” and “show business.” More reflective observations have described it as a recall qualified by Republican multimillionaires to set up other Republican multimillionaires as candidates to replace the incumbent, Gray Davis. Certainly, this is not the kind of…
Responding to criticism that he and other regulators had gone lightly in fining ten large Wall Street firms $1.4 billion for alleged conflicts of interests, New York Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer contended that harsher penalties would have done more harm than good for the economy. “We made a decision not to destroy these financial…
As the Enron, Worldcom and related corporate crime scandals of 2001 near their second anniversary, most of the promised reforms are still on the drawing board or awaiting full implementation. Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission botched the birth of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board-the centerpiece of the Congressionally-enacted reforms. The first chairman…