Keeping the Spotlight on Lobbying Outrages and Economic Hard Times

I'm pleased to announce the launch today of two new HuffPost features designed to keep the spotlight on two vital stories: the overwhelming role that lobbying is playing right now in undermining reform (of Wall Street, energy, and now health care), and on the full extent of the economic hardship caused by the ongoing downturn.

Let's start with lobbying. Along with many others, I've written extensively about how lobbying consistently waters down, guts, or out-and-out kills attempts to serve the public interest. We've connected the dots between the special money that pours into Washington and the reform-lite legislation that sputters out. We've pointed fingers, named names, and fanned the flames of outrage.

And yet the lobbyists remain as pervasive -- and even more powerful -- than ever. Just take a look at what's happening with health care. The Washington Post and TPM [via Open Secrets] this week offered up some details of the unprecedented lobbying effort aimed at undermining health care reform: $1 million a day spent on lobbying; 350 former Members of Congress and Congressional staffers hired to influence the debate, including half a dozen former staffers of Sen. Max Baucus, who remains a human roadblock to real health care reform; the hiring of bipartisan big gun arm-twisters like Bob Dole, Tom Daschle, Dick Armey, and Dick Gephardt to try to sway their former colleagues.

Stories like that tend to pop up, make our blood pressure rise, then quickly drop off the media radar until the next outrage grabs our attention. But the sporadic -- and often scattered -- nature of the media's coverage of the DC quid pro dough game is one of the reasons the special interests have been able to maintain their power. When another example of the lobbyists' power to undermine real reform hits the headlines, they just lay low until the public's focus moves on to the next hot story, and then get back to business as usual.

Which is why we have decided to launch LobbyBlog, an ongoing, consistently refreshed collection of the latest information on lobbying, lobbyists, the politicians whose arms they are twisting, and the tragic impact they are having on the kind of legislation that is passed -- or not passed -- and therefore has on the lives of millions of Americans.

LobbyBlog will be edited and served up with a heaping helping of attitude by HuffPost's Eat the Press Editor Jason Linkins. But all HuffPost editors and reporters will be contributing.

And we want you to be a big part of LobbyBlog. Send us tips (big or small), news stories you think Jason should be highlighting, outrages you want to share with the world, and leads you want our reporters to follow. We hope you will be a big part of the process and the discussion. You can connect with Jason at [e-mail]. Here is the first installment, offering the latest on lobbying efforts on the environment, on heath care reform, and banking reform.

The other new feature is a work in progress. It's called The Real Misery Index -- and it aims to provide a more accurate gauge of what is happening in the lives of millions of Americans as a result of the ongoing economic hard times.

The original Misery Index is a formula created by economist Arthur Okun that adds the current unemployment rate to the yearly increase in the consumer price index (a measure of inflation). It's an easily digestible number that the media loves to use to give a snapshot of how well or badly the economy is doing.

Unfortunately, it's not a very useful statistic. For starters, the unemployment stat traditionally used only represents a portion of the jobless since it doesn't include part-time workers and those who have given up looking for work. Plus, the consumer price index has been criticized for under-emphasizing essential goods such as food and gas. And the original Misery Index doesn't include a whole host of economic indicators that have a huge impact on the actual misery of millions of Americans -- things like the latest numbers on people losing their homes, people losing their health care, and people going bankrupt or defaulting on their credit cards.

The rise in the cost of gas is important -- but what does it matter if you don't have a home to heat or a car to drive?

In short, we feel there is a need to create a new and improved Misery Index. The Real Misery Index.

To this end, HuffPost News Editor Marcus Baram has been consulting with economists and coming up with a better formulation that includes more accurate employment numbers and a wider range of consumer price statistics. But even this number -- though a great improvement -- does not fully capture economic reality, as it would not include foreclosures, credit card defaults, and bankruptcies.

So, starting Monday, we are going to start featuring a Real Misery Index chart that also lists the latest statistics on those other misery-causing factors. And we'd love some input from any economists, accountants, or savvy readers out there with ideas on how to make our Real Misery Index as useful as possible. Send your suggestions to [e-mail].

And beyond highlighting the numbers in the Real Misery Index, we are committed to telling the story of those being affected by the economic hard times -- to putting flesh and blood on the gloomy statistics. That's why we have one of our reporters, Arthur Delaney, dedicated to covering the Economic Impact beat.

So check out HuffPost's LobbyBlog, and send us your suggestions about our Real Misery Index. And let's keep the spotlight on both.

 

 

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[shylove2]

How about the Bhutanese Gross National Happiness Index???

The cost of year round elections with lobbyists and campaign consultants is turning us into a society of disfunctional democracy!!

Six months out the verdicts on Obama are being pronounced and we are getting ready for the next two year election which will take everyone in Congresses fundraising time. The gushing of funds from the corporate and special interests to the media corporations is nearly constant. The character assassinations and spying on public figures is rolling along well. The cost of it all is passed back to us in our goods and services

And just what makes us so different from Sunni and Shia in Iraq just because the assassinations are of character, reputation, and jobs rather than of spilled blood.

The race for President in 2004 is beginning. Meanwhile we ares supposed to believe that since the damage of the last 8 Bush years or perhaps since the Reagan era or perhaps since the beginning ot the Cold War and military-m­erchant-mi­ssionary machine hasn't been solved in 6 months Obama hasn't done his job.

Well it may not even be possible to undo all that damage, only mitigate it. What could be done is renounce the logic of believing in War as a solution to the world's problems when its immense collateral damage generally becomes the collateral for the next war.

[n5ifi]

WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

[Dbos]

Congress=Slumdog millionaires. People with pockets full of money getting them to do what they want.

[bro43]

First of all, redefine "lobbying" as the crime it is bribery and penalize heavily anyone who engages in bribery. Penalties should include a ban from ever holding any public office or employment ever, jail terms and stiff fines. Our reps and sens should be afraid of getting cozy with any particular interest other than their constituents. Return the control to citizens. If this were the case I think our % of public that votes would increase substantially as many are disenfranchised with the system.

[PokerIsNotACrime84]

Wouldn't any congressman or woman who speak out against lobbying be super-popular right now? Seeing as how 70% of the public support a public option for HC. Why do i feel like no one speaks out?

[cripes]

A congressman being lobbied by an insurer is almost the same as a police chief being lobbied by a drug cartel

"A definite conflict of interest"

[A2phil]

Just one suggestion;

Send the Misery Index to President Obama and ALL the "Fools on the Hill" (what I call the U.S. Senators and Congresspeople) Spam them if you have to...

One reason I think we should have government funded elections-no need for fundraisin­g,politici­ans can ignore the lobbyists, etc...

[Dave Chia]

Agreed.

Iranian protesters risked their lives to march in an attempt to get verifiable voting.

Do we need to do the same to get publicly funded elections?! I don't know what else, if anything, will get congress to change it's own dirty ways.

[breezi]

Arianna, both these new blogs are a great idea. Lobbying in Congress seems to be all but ignored by the MSM, and there's really no reason it should be shrouded in secrecy. These things happen at the state and local level as well. What amazes me is that the people in office don't even seem to know they've done wrong; I guess that's a statement on how pervasive lobbying has become. I will post more on both subjects later. Thank you for all you do; you and the Huffpo staff are the greatest. No wonder the DC press complained about Nico; his real coverage of Iran made it difficult for them to varnish the truth.

[USApatriot]

A good starting point may be at youstreet.org, formerly known as Just$6. If every voter contributes just $6 to campaign funding, lobbyists become irrelevant. Let's get this going.

[montanason]

Just did a quick walk through of this site-youst­reet.org-l­ooks pretty good.Thanks for the info.
Six bucks-hell ,we could collect aluminum cans and come up with that much. Extrapolate that to
even a fourth of the electorate and it could have a profound impact. I'm liking this.

[montanason]

A further thought on this-a grassroots group in each city going door to door to sign people up.
If it is viable for voter registration why not this as well? Get the Huff behind it and that would certainly evolve into air time and a growing awareness. Might serve to rattle the cage a little as well.

[indy100]

Add the $6 to everybody's tax bill; easy and relatively painless. Even the poorest among us can and do spend $6 on a combo meal at McDonalds. Lobbying is nothing but legally allowed BRIBERY.

[montanason]

"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the civilized world no longer a Government by free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men." - Woodrow Wilson from his death bed regarding his involvement in the passage of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
And surely you realize the Fed lobbies and is lobbied don't you?
More than this now though-it is a group of corporations and the legion of lobbyists they employ. People have to stop this blind support and looking the other way when it comes tho their party. Doesn't that in effect bestow consent and contribute to the problem?

[SRAC]

Has it ever been any different? Ulysses S. Grant complained about trusts and corporations and their influence during his Presidency. Congress investigated the South Development Corporation (J. D. Rockefeller's corporation and predecessor to Standard Oil) in 1872 and did nothing in spite of massive evidence and testimony regarding their illegal activities.

Unless Americans are willing to demand change to our shameful campaign finance laws, that are hiding behind the first amendment, and directly confront all elected representatives who refuse to do their sworn duty, nothing will change.

The people of Iran, Honduras and China have recently taken to the streets, but Americans would rather watch Michael Jackson and Sarah Palin than think or act. Our system of government is unsustainable. Take a good look at President Obama and friends compromising on every piece of legislation and say you still believe he's for change we can believe in.

[montanason]

BINGO!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eggsackley]

It will take an amendment to the Constitution to put an end to lobbying. I think it is high time to start considering one. The first question is what form it should take. Do we just publicly finance campaigns at a flat rate, or do we restrict the First Amendment rights of businesses and business associations to contribute to campaigns?
In the meantime, the more light we shine on lobbying, the better. When I was an undergraduate student in Washington, I was fortunate to get a job as a messenger for an influential law firm. They participated in the cigarette companies' lobby in the early sixties, and I learned a lot about how our government really works. I was encouraged to smoke when I carried handouts up to capital hill. I was too low on the totem pole to engage in payola, but I knew it was going on because I had friends working in congressional offices. The end result was that the cigarette companies got told to put warning labels on their packages. This was the equivalent of the fox throwing Br'er Rabbit in the briar patch.

[NHGranite]

Thank you Arianna Huffington. Throwing light on this dark practice is the best "disinfectant".

Worry over medical coverage has made me sicker. Over 5 years, I have been carefully staving off kidney dialysis, but this past year, my kidney function dropped precipitously to Stage 5. It is no coincidence that this happened after my husband lost his job. COBRA insurance was $1000 a month; unemployment $1700 a month. When I called my hospital, I was told we were over income for assistance. Then I called my mortgage company - they immediately canceled our equity line. We applied and should have been eligible for the Making Home Affordable program, but the bank gets to decide if they'll help, and they refused. No one at any level has been able to help us get this program, not Freddie Mac, the OCC, Senators, State Banking, no one.

[Whitley2009]

Arianna, I think I love you...

[Charlie M]

We need to get rid of Baucus , A Republican in Democrat clothing. We need to stop the money flowing from lobbyist to our so called representatives . Every one should e-mail the President and demand he put a stop to what Baucus is doing .

[FrankKalder]

Your announcements, Arianna, are fascinating! I'm very much interested in Jason Linkins' new -- Wall Street debacles related -- Huffpost blogs.