Blog > Politics > Blog article: Campaign Finance and Political Scandal: Government in the modern world
 | Email This Article Email This Article  | 

Campaign Finance and Political Scandal: Government in the modern world

Posted March 6, 2008

"In the United States, the main problem of finance for politicians comes from the cost of elections. The 2008 presidential election will end up costing $1 trillion, perhaps more." — Lord William Rees-Mogg
 
by Lord William Rees-Mogg 
 
Baltimore — (TFN): It is depressing that the American election has developed into charges and countercharges of corruption. Sen. Obama has been attacked for historic property deals. Sen. McCain has been attacked for his relations with a lobbyist. There are still ancient suspicions of the Rose Law Firm of Little Rock, Ark., in which Hillary Clinton was a partner when her husband was governor.
 
In the United States, the main problem of finance for politicians comes from the cost of elections. The 2008 presidential election will end up costing $1 trillion, perhaps more. Much of the money goes for political advertising, of which the more effective half is spent on attacking the competence or integrity of the other candidates. The American lobbying system involves the lobbyists — who have their hands out for political favors — raising money from their clients to pay to politicians to spend on these negative campaigns.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Grab your FREE subscription to Whiskey & Gunpowder today!
 
Here’s your chance to grab your FREE subscription to Whiskey & Gunpowder, the World Wide Web’s only e-newsletter that covers resources, oil, geopolitics, military history, geology and personal freedom.
 
Each and every issue will bring you a different perspective on the markets or geopolitical news. Make sure you know what the future holds – get a FREE subscription today!
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
In Europe, the personal expenses of candidates or sitting members of European parliaments seem to be more of a problem. In Britain, a member of Parliament has been suspended for two weeks for paying his son out of parliamentary funds for research work he did not actually carry out. About a third of members of Parliament use parliamentary funds, intended for their political staff, to pay members of their families. This applies to all major parties, Labor, Conservative, or Liberal Democrat.
 
Even the speaker of the House of Commons has been accused of bad judgment, though not of breaking the law, for using air miles from official visits to pay for family travel and claiming his wife’s taxi journeys on official expenses.
 
There is another and graver scandal in the European Parliament, which has produced, but not published, a report on the claims for expenses of the European Parliament itself. This includes claims for first class flights when the cheapest airlines had, in fact, been used, but it also includes more serious matters in which downright fraud is alleged and the sums involved go up to five or six figures. Read on to learn more. 
 
****Make sure you sign up for our FREE TFN News Feed for breaking news, special reports and new financial videos. You can pick your favorite reader. Or if you prefer, you can have the feed delivered to your email. 
 

Related Articles


Posted by TFN-Politics · Filed Under Politics 

Comments

close Reblog this comment
Powered by Disqus · Learn more
blog comments powered by Disqus