By Sally Dugman
Back in 2009, I wrote an article in which I mentioned:
“The taxpayers of Mississippi, whether they condoned the action or not, bought their current or a former governor an eight seat plane for 3.7 million dollars. The state’s authorizing fiscal managers, obviously, must have deemed it an essential for his office and ratified its purchase order. In addition, it costs approximately $1,200 to operate for each hour in use for trips by the present governor’s family, associates and himself.”
I, also, wrote in the same piece:
“Then again, Nancy Pelosi, from a state in which towns and counties are, one after another, publicly declaring bankruptcy, seems possibly much worse than her Mississippi counterparts in her choices pertaining to flagrantly self-indulgent behaviors. Indeed, it is outrageous that many of our government representatives have the arrogant gall to blithely continue in their assumption that they are entitled to extraordinary perks and privileges at taxpayers’ expense despite the economic downturn, along with related homelessness, joblessness and other serious hardships being faced by many citizens who voted them into office.
“Meanwhile, her excess is particularly evident in that she has spent an exorbitant amount for frequently jetting back and forth between California and Washington, D.C., along with requesting special stipulations relative to her numerous flights. Indeed, according to Jake Tapper, an ABC News correspondent, “On Feb. 1 [2007], unnamed administration and congressional sources leaked to the Washington Times that Pelosi was ‘seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation [1].’”
“At the same time, one can assume that, while many politicians are encouraging fossil fuel curtailment for the public at large, she is aware that her carbon footprint is blatantly high due to an unrestrained desire to flit back and forth across the American terrain whenever the inclination strikes.”
Now in the present day, I’ll add that I’m very sorry that a mentally ill criminal broke into her home and repeatedly thudded her elderly husband in the head with a hammer as a retribution since he hates her so much. How bizarre and truly awful!
Meanwhile, I wonder about from where her $261.90 million derived. No, I don’t really any more than the money that the rest of most wealthy politicians obtain in their vast stores of lucre, including Presidents such as Obama who hired a private cook for his household.
The answer, actually, is simple in the end. Moneyed private citizens and corporate heads try to bribe and influence government decisions in their favor. So because of the Citizen United ruling (Citizens United v. FEC), they load millions upon millions in gifts like a jet and vacations, other lavish and expensive favors and financial donations onto rulers whose special treatment that they want to curry.
This happening even impacts the Supreme Court. For example, some of its members, most notably Clarence Thomas, have taken millions of dollars in bribes, vacations, jet and ship trips, expensive private school tuition for a young relative and more. It’s all well documented. 1 2
Meanwhile, others like Donald Trump sue corporations like Paramount and get away with the gained loot since the company, Paramount or whichever other one it is, wants favors in return for capitulating. Further, he gets to sell all sorts of products while in office such as cryptocurrency, guitars, watches, hats, talking clocks, pictures and much, much more. So, it’s a real cash cow in the final reckoning.. along with other business ventures in operation that he pursues.
So aside from Supreme Court and POTUS gains, what more financially slimy, actually, involves Congress, itself ? It’s this in my view: Over half of Congress are at least millionaires and their lucre more often than not is largely ill gotten gain. 4 5
The way that one of the major scams is used by some Senators and House Representatives is really easy to note. It goes like this:
Let’s say that I’m on a defense committee and the group members have decided to give more bombs and cash to Israel to kill Palestinian citizens and to the Ukraine leaders to slaughter Russian and South Korean troops. I, then, know that once my committee Director announces this being so, the stock of the weapon and war machine manufacturers involved in this butchery will wildly rise in value. So I will buy stocks in these companies in advance of the public announcement to make illicit profits for myself.
In fact and according to Craig Holman and Savannah Wooten, who wrote the Federal Times article, Lawmakers still benefitting from share trading in defense stocks: “In starker terms, nearly one in five members of Congress traded stocks in businesses to which they are privy to inside information and for which they can affect the value of those stocks through official actions.
“This does not reflect well on Congress.
“The problem is particularly bad in the defense industry. Congressional stock trading can arguably be seen as “war profiteering” – members of cashing in on defense industry stocks at the same time Congress receives updates on the wars in Ukraine and Israel and sets the Pentagon’s annual budget, half of which goes to military contractors every year.
“The potential for unethical stock trading may be worse for military corporations than any other. With the onslaught of new wars, Congress added $70 billion over the last two years to an already bloated Pentagon budget, much of which is funneled directly into the coffers of defense contractors like Palatir, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. The stock values in these companies have since experienced double-digitgrowth – a lucrative business opportunity not overlooked by lawmakers calling the shots.
“At least 25 members of Congress sitting on national security committees have simultaneously purchased stock in these very same companies. The majority of these members sit on the Senate and House Armed Services committees, the entities responsible for overseeing the Defense Department budget and contracts. Stocks are held by both Republicans and Democrats. Reaping the benefits of the military-industrial-complex is thoroughly bipartisan.”
Moreover, we citizens should not for a moment naively think that other industries are also not involved in this seamy graft by many corrupt and sleazy political operatives who are put into office by innocent and well meaning voters excluding me as I, as a matter of conscience, absolutely refuse to elect into office a lesser of two evils like a Bombs Away Biden over the alternative murderous monster who also gives hard earned taxpayer money to blow up, starve and delimb or bury alive in building rubble elders, mothers, fathers, older children and babies alike, as well as others such as some soldiers.
Meanwhile, please don’t imagine for a moment that many (not all) of our politicians don’t have their greedy piggy noses in insider trading involving other industries besides murderous warring and genocidal related ones. Of course, they do — such as with pharmaceuticals like the lucrative Covid-19 actions, gain of function actions and much, much more!
2 Legal scholar: Clarence Thomas “corruption” almost “certainly unlawful and ethically reprehensible”
3 Paramount, President Trump reach $16 million settlement over “60 Minutes” lawsuit
4 Majority In Congress Are Millionaires : It’s All Politics
5 List of current members of the United States Congress by wealth
6. Members of Congress Investing In Defense Revealed
7. Politician Trading: If You Can’t Stop Them, Join Them | Alerts and Articles | Insights
Sally Dugman lives in and writes from Massachusetts, USA where she is represented by two good Senators and a House Congressman, who all try to stymie corruption and uplift society … unlike some other creepy pigs in Washington, D.C.
29 July 2025
Source: countercurrents.org