Says Kevin Drum:
Big Sugar™ spends $1.5 million to gain $100 million per year in federal subsidies. That's an ROI of 6,700%. Ken Lay would be envious.
I've often wondered why only the forces of evil seem to be leveraging the power of lobbying in their favor to multiply their money. Why don't the good guys do it too? You can give money to more direct charitable organizations like Doctors without Borders and Oxfam, but I haven't heard of an organization I could donate to that lobbies for federal funding of worthy global public health and antipoverty projects. It seems that by funding a lobbying organization that donates to Senators and Congresscritters with the intention of making them support humanitarian efforts, you could multiply your money just like all the corrupt agribusiness and oil people do.
