‘Extortion’: Lawmakers Bagging Big Bucks Using Secret Self-Loan Scheme
31st October 2013
A little-known campaign loophole allows members of Congress to make high-interest personal loans to their own campaigns and then never pay them off—a scheme that generates passive streams of profit worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
And why not? They’re not in this business for their health, you know.
“What if the problem is not bribery… but extortion?” asks Schweizer. “What if the Permanent Political Class in Washington, made up of individuals from both political parties, is using its coercive public power to not only stay in office but to threaten others and to extract wealth, and in the bargain pick up private benefits for themselves, their friends, and their families?”
My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.