| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |
| Under scrutiny, Google spends record amount on lobbying |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-04-23 22:40:08 |
| "The increase is a sign that the search engine can no longer afford to operate in a Silicon Valley vacuum. For years, Google had a reputation for indifference inside the Beltway. It took Google until May 2005 to set up a presence in Washington and even then, its headquarters consisted of a one-man lobbying shop in suburban Maryland." Do the Americans among you just accept this? Is this normal? Why aren't you guys turning to the streets when your country is quite clearly being bought left and right? I mean, I'm sure this happens everywhere, but on this scale? Gives me the creeps. |
|
| RE: Misleading article title |
| By nej_simon on 2012-04-24 16:42:59 |
|
Exactly. Google spent some $4 million on lobbying to stop SOPA/PIPA. Ars technica concludes: If the company chooses not to continue the fight against CISPA and other bills similar to SOPA and PIPA that rise in their wake, its spending may drop off for the rest of the year. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/n... |
 - Score: 2 |
| RE[3]: Comment by Flatland_Spider |
| By Flatland_Spider on 2012-04-24 23:33:08 |
| Exactly. Getting a candidate in office who is sympathetic to your positions counts for about 10% (I'm being generous with that number). You have to keep the whip on them to get what you want. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[2]: Comment by Flatland_Spider |
| By Flatland_Spider on 2012-04-24 23:51:53 |
|
> That is what voting is for. Right, because 1500 miles if just next door. What the politicians want us to do is forget about them until the next election and let them vote without any oversight. Lack of oversight is how we end up in this position in the first place. We let the politicians pass legislation whatever they felt like, and they passed bills that benefited them and whomever was prompting them. If we want change, we're going to have to get in their face, and let them know what we want. Have you heard about the squeaky wheel that got the grease? Pulling a lever and hoping everything works out isn't going to cut it. It's going to take a lot of effort, time, and diligence to right the ship, and casting a vote isn't the end of your responsibilities as a citizen. That's one day out of the year. There are 364 days, 365 in leap years, left in the year where you need to make sure your representative is serving your interests. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[3]: Comment by Flatland_Spider |
| By Fergy on 2012-04-25 05:10:01 |
|
> Pulling a lever and hoping everything works out isn't going to cut it. I agree with you fully. But lobbying is a symptom of a broken system. You should have more influence in politics but I think it should be built in the system. You already pay the government why pay again for lobbying groups? I think we should be able to vote on things that we find important not on people. I don't care about the people in politics. And if we can't change the system; A large country like the US should at least have 20-30 parties. |
| - Score: 3 |
| OP's questions re how Americans feel about this sh** |
| By zoinksbob on 2012-04-25 06:32:19 |
|
Q for Thom and any other Europeans who feel like answering: I know a lot of US shows get exported overseas, but do any Europeans watch things like 'The Daily Show' or 'The Colber Report'? I'm guessing it's too American for most foreign audiences. But that's my answer to Thom's "Do the Americans among you just accept this? Is this normal?" 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report' are how we as a society cope with the sorts of things you're talking about. If you have the ability to watch these shows where you are, they may be educational. These sorts of ironic satire shows are how a big chunk of us Americans stay sane. Edited 2012-04-25 06:37 UTC |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[3]: America isn't all roses... |
| By Lennie on 2012-04-26 12:10:29 |
|
Pessimism and politics go hand in hand, so don't worry about that. :-) Thanks for the reply. It is good having some perspective from the US. It explains a lot. |
| - Score: 2 |
| Lobbying |
| By jhodapp on 2012-04-26 16:44:30 |
| My quick comment on this is, lobbying is perhaps the largest in the U.S. because here, there is the most power and influence to be bought. No other government spends more money than the U.S. No other government has more authority and control in the world. That's worth a lot of money and many people want a stake in it. The solution, shrink the U.S. government so that there is less incentive and things to be bought. |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE[2]: It's very simple |
| By zima on 2012-04-28 12:02:32 |
|
> But sometimes it's really peculiar, to say the least, when these elected politicians act as they would've got their powers from [whichever] God to do whatever they see fit the crowds of mere mortals. Nothing really peculiar about it when, for one, some prominent political options ride, more or less, on just such myths... |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE[2]: OWS tried, and failed |
| By zima on 2012-04-30 21:29:38 |
| Thing is, as long as they can cherish this largely meaningless law, as long as you give them guns, they're happy ...maybe just with the guns and not much else. |
| - Score: 2 |
| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |