29 Companies That Paid Millions For Lobbying (And Didn't Pay Taxes)

From Forbes:
"Thirty large U.S. corporations paid more money to Congressional lobbyists than they paid in taxes from 2008-2010, according to a new report from Public Campaign, a purportedly non-partisan corporate watchdog organization that seeks to reduce the influence of big companies in politics.
"The report names 30 profitable companies (only one of which paid federal corporate taxes during the period analyzed), with lobbying expenditures ranging from $710,000 to $84.4 million.
"The worst offender, according to the report, is General Electric. The company – which drew fire earlier this year when its lack of taxes came to light – spent over $39 million on lobbyists in 2010 alone."
"Only one of the companies named in the report paid income taxes during the period analyzed, although even that company paid a tiny fraction of the standard corporate tax rate. FedEx paid $37 million in taxes – good for a tax rate of 1%. During that same period, FedEx spent $50.8 million on lobbying." Source: http://onforb.es/zPdFYf
What does this mean? It means that these 30 companies, just like many others, understand the hard truth about American politics: that Congress is for sale and that venal congressmen and senators are willing to obey the wishes of the corporate lobbyists and do the bidding of their corporate masters.
Jagor