Editor's note: Nina-Bytes is a weekday blogging series that features short analysis and commentary on articles from around the web.
Manchin Has Received $1.5 Million From Corporate Interests Attacking Biden Agenda: Report
This article from Jake Johnson at Common Dreams has forced me to ask an important question; is it even possible to make an "I told you so" post about such crass and obvious corruption? In an era of legalized bribery, and zero accountability for the rich and powerful, does bald-faced self-enrichment at the highest levels of government even shock us anymore? Probably not; especially in a neofeudalist oligarchy. Clearly in this stage of capitalism, asking a U.S. Senator to forgo bribes from corporate lobbyists is like asking a fish to stop swimming.
Joe Manchin, everyone's favorite coal baron Senate obstructionist, is back in the news cycle again and it's not because he's such a style icon. In a revelation that won't surprise anyone who read my last essay (Six Things I Think: Reconciliation and the Dirty Pair) even more evidence has emerged that Manchin is on the take from forces that want to kill the Build Back Better Act. It turns out that in addition to the oil lobby money, and the polluter utilities money, Manchin has also scarfed up at least $1.5 million in donations from corporations and business lobby groups; including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Given that all of these groups represent corporations who oppose even moderate tax increases, as do Manchin's new friends inside the Kochtopus, it's not all that hard to figure out what the money is for. Correspondingly, the "other Joe" is still working to whittle trillions in funding off the reconciliation bill while protecting his corporate donors from even Biden's moderate tax increases. Of course one might be tempted to ask why companies keep bribing Manchin to kill a bill he's already committed to destroying, but there's no need to ask why the Senator from West Virginia would keep going back to the well. After all, everyone already knows he's greasier than a pork rind dipped in lard; and nobody has done a goddamn thing about it yet.
nina illingworth
Anarcho-syndicalist writer, critic, and analyst.
You can find my work at NIDC, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog
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“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”
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