The Good Thing Is Congress Isn't a Career These Days

The bad thing is that it’s a stepping stone to corporate riches.

Between 1947 and 1979, the share of income going to the top 1 percent fell by about 27 percent. Then the effects of the corporate campaign began to kick in. Between 1980 and 2012, the share going to the top 1 percent rose by 120 percent.

The corporate campaign created a political consensus that churns out business-friendly policies no matter which party is in power. It also changed the nature of government employment. Fifty years ago, people came to Washington drawn by a sense of public service, however they defined it, and they often stayed in the public sector over much of their careers. Now working in government is a brief way station on the road to better things. Many of those who come to DC with little wealth leave in a position to become rich, and those who come rich are able to become richer.

[...]

After he went to prison for bribing public officials, lobbyist Jack Abramoff claimed in his memoir, Capitol Punishment, that he controlled around 100 members of Congress. In addition to offering them and their staff free meals at his high-end restaurant, Signatures, Abramoff handed out luxury box tickets to sporting events and junkets to the world’s most exclusive golf destinations. But his most effective tactic was simply to float the suggestion to congressional staffers that he’d hire them when they left the Hill. Abramoff would then effectively “own” the staffer, who would perhaps even unconsciously start making decisions that benefited his future employer. “His paycheck may have been signed by the Congress, but he was already working for me.”

[...]

For the political class, cashing in doesn’t require brains, hard work, dedication or talent, but merely a willingness to sell to the highest bidder the Rolodex you compiled while in government.

  The Intercept

So how come Abramoff went to prison, but the pols didn’t?

The article gives specific examples of Tom and Linda Daschle, aided and abetted by Bill Clinton, and former Louisiana representative Richard Baker, who worked to repeal Glass-Steagall while on a committee to police Wall Street and gave God the credit for cleaning up New Orleans.

It also says that financial disclosure forms required of Congress folk don’t require listing real estate. 

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.