It was Will Rogers, or maybe Mark Twain, who said we have the best Congress money can buy.  So it is no surprise that lobbyists fare better than the millions who are unemployed--would Republicans back the president's job bill if it had million-dollar-a-year lobbyists asking for its passage? 

Still it is outrageous when the best indicator for the success of a company's stock price is not the number of patents it creates, not the number of new products it introduces, not the percentage of nobel laureates it employs but the amount it spends lobbying Congress.  Most top companies can only hope to invest $1.00 and get $1.25 returned.  However a recent study by Strategas, an investment research company, "found the outright return on lobbying costs, according to one of the various studies that served as inspiration for the Strategas index, was $220 for each $1 spent."  

Details can be found at: http://www.economist.com/node/21531014

While it is obvious that big business uses their first amendment right to petition the government, it is nonetheless truly outrageous that OUR elected representatives are so thoroughly bought.  More people must demand that each and every candidate take concrete action to stop selling our democracy.  I may not win, but I am not going to stand by while these outrages continue.