Fundamental Reasons For Lobbyist Reform Term Paper

Fundamental Reasons For Lobbyist Reform - Term Paper Example TBTF banks, GM, Chrysler, AIG, and other important American companies received aid from the Treasury in the form of stimulus money intended to address the root causes of the problem in losses stemming from the real estate melt-down. After review, it is believed that the undue lobbyist interest by the same companies that received financing from these programs, as well as from the Federal Reserve directly via Quantitative Easing, may have influenced or even corrupted the process through which legislation was written concerning their own industry. Furthermore, the same influences were also seen during the process during which the Health Care Reform was passed. These issues point to a larger cause in the need for lobbyist reform. The most fundamental reason for this is to remove the possible conflict of interest in legislation, but this issue may also be seen as protecting the greater democratic system as well as making the administration’s own work more effective in legislation and reform. 1. In the examples of the Wall St. Rescue Package, TARP, and the stimulus packages implemented to assist the economy, Time magazine reported, â€Å"the legislation, which would bring more change to Wall Street than anything else enacted since the New Deal, was a Super Bowl for lobbyists.† (Brill, 2010) In analyzing the way that lobbyists from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Citi, and other TBTF banks contributed soft money to the political process to buy influence in legislation, it reflects badly on the Administration and democratic process in America, and through this, encourages the Administration to support reform of lobbyists in Washington. 2. In the example of Financial Sector reform, the same companies and others, including major leaders in the industry, finance, and banking have influenced the process unduly.