Government funded by entities with largest checkbooks

We should be glad the cost of politicians isn't included in the consumer price index. If it were, inflation would soar.

The passage of the omnibus spending bill guaranteed hyperinflation for the cost of political influence. It also guaranteed the end of Abraham Lincoln's 'government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

Instead, we have a government of the lobbies, by the lobbies and for the lobbies. It is a government funded by the entities with the largest checkbooks.

As discussed in the media, the omnibus spending bill contained more than spending resolutions. Among other intrusions, it contained a bill that let us know who owns Congress.

The rider receiving the most attention was H.R. 992. This bill removes the Dodd-Frank restrictions on bank trading of derivatives. These are the strange little instruments that are so profitable for banks some of the time and so devastating at other times.

The distinction is that when they are profitable, it's private profit. But when they are devastating, it brings a public rescue by the Federal Reserve.

You and I can't get deals like this, but the Too Big to Fail banks can. When you are Too Big to Fail, you're also big enough to write the rules.

The bill wasn't written by a politician or by his office support staff. The original wording was 100 percent Citigroup.

As the nation's third-largest bank, it is definitely in the Too Big to Fail category.

Writing the bill wasn't all. According to opensecrets.org, Citigroup's political action committee contributed $804,000 to congressional campaigns in 2014.

You also should know that Citigroup isn't just any corporation. If we had a 'three strikes” rule for corporations, Citigroup would already be in prison for life. Citigroup is a repeat offender in the same way as individuals who are habitual offenders. Citigroup just keeps showing up before the judge.

Here are recent fines and settlements Citigroup has paid or made, as recorded on the Corporate Research Project website:

l November 2014: The U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission fines Citigroup $310 million, and the British Financial Conduct Authority fines it $358 million to settle charges it (and other large banks) had manipulated the foreign exchange market.

l July 2014: The Justice Department announces Citigroup would pay $7 billion to settle charges due to the bank's packaging and sales of toxic mortgage-backed securities that led to the 2008 financial crisis.

l April 2014: Institutional investors suing Citigroup for its sales of bad residential mortgages win an agreement the bank will pay $1.13 billion to settle their claims.

As if this isn't offensive enough, another rider in the omnibus bill rubs salt in our wound. The bill describes it as 'Division N - Other Matters” on page 1,599 of the undebated 1,603-page bill. The rider increases the sums of money individuals and PACs can contribute to political campaigns. But that's an understatement. Put the changes together, and political contributions can be 10 times larger. That's hyperinflation.

l Questions about personal finance and investments may be sent by email to scott@scottburns.com.