The Declaration of Independence was written for Natural persons. Here's a version for corps.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Corporations are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator (us by way of state legislators) with certain alienable Rights...If proponents of the legal fiction can figure out a way to, for example, imprison a corporation for criminal activity I might be willing to change my opinion on the matter.
As far as bank regulation goes, I'm looking for the next Congress to repeal the bought-and-paid-for Dodd-Frank "reforms" and replace it with state anti-gambling and anti-bucket shop laws.
The squealing of the stuck pigs would be music to ones ears.
From OpenSecrets:
New York-based financial services firm JPMorgan Chase spent $2.74 million on federal lobbying from July through September this year, topping the list of big-spending commercial banks, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of third-quarter federal lobbying reports, which were filed Wednesday with the Clerk of the House and Secretary of the Senate.
So far this year, JPMorgan has spent $5.77 million on lobbying expenditures -- more than $1 million above the $4.55 million spent by Citigroup.
During the third quarter alone, Citigroup and its subsidiaries spent $1.49 million on lobbying, putting the company slightly ahead of Wells Fargo, which spent $1.18 million in the third quarter. Wells Fargo has now invested a total of $3.49 million in 2010 lobbying.
JPMorgan, Citigroup and Wells Fargo are all well above their year to date totals for the same period last year. From January to September 2009, JPMorgan and Citigroup both spent about $4.3 million on lobbying. Wells Fargo spent $2.06 million through the first three quarters of 2009.
As OpenSecrets Blog reported Thursday, business lobbying heavyweight the U.S. Chamber of Commerce loomed above other third-quarter lobbying efforts, spending more than $37.06 million between July and September.
Another finance-oriented trade association, the American Bankers Association, is also having a prolific year. The group and its affiliates reported spending more than $6.3 million on lobbying efforts between January and September -- and about $1.6 million in the third quarter alone....MORE
