Most Popular Investments by the US Congress Members

Dow Jones Industrial heavy, with smattering of tech stocks. No Netflix, though.

From OpenSecrets.org, as of 2009:

Rank	Organization	Total Investors	Democrat Investors	Republican Investors
1	General Electric	106	52	54
2	Procter & Gamble	78	35	43
3	Cisco Systems	73	34	39
3	Bank of America	73	35	38
5	Microsoft Corp	70	33	37
6	AT&T Inc	65	25	40
7	Pfizer Inc	63	31	32
8	Intel Corp	53	25	28
9	Johnson & Johnson	52	20	31
9	Coca-Cola Co	52	24	28
11	Exxon Mobil	51	15	36
11	JPMorgan Chase & Co	51	21	30
13	IBM Corp	50	18	31
13	Verizon Communications	50	22	28
13	Wells Fargo	50	23	26
16	PepsiCo Inc	49	25	24
17	Apple Inc	47	21	26
18	Hewlett-Packard	43	18	25
19	Home Depot	41	19	22
20	Walt Disney Co	39	21	18
21	McDonald's Corp	38	17	21
21	Merck & Co	38	18	20
23	Berkshire Hathaway	37	18	19
24	Abbott Laboratories	32	10	22
25	Bristol-Myers Squibb	31	10	21
25	CVS/Caremark Corp	31	11	20
25	Wal-Mart Stores	31	12	19
28	Citigroup Inc	30	13	17
28	Monsanto Co	30	11	19
30	BP	29	7	22
31	Apache Corp	28	10	18
31	Comcast Corp	28	12	16
31	Goldman Sachs	28	7	21
31	Oracle Corp	28	13	15
35	Qualcomm Inc	27	12	15
35	ConocoPhillips	27	9	18
35	Chevron Corp	27	10	17
38	Dow Chemical	26	16	10
38	United Technologies	26	10	16
40	Google Inc	25	9	16
40	3M Co	25	14	11
40	Nokia Corp	25	11	14
43	Amgen Inc	24	11	13
43	Caterpillar Inc	24	11	13
43	EMC Corp	24	13	11
43	Emerson	24	7	17
43	Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	24	11	13
43	Time Warner	24	14	10
49	Devon Energy	23	8	15
49	Kraft Foods	23	9	14

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US Congress Squabble over Styrofoam Cups in Cafeteria

In the meantime, fools on the hill, aka the US Congress, are protesting against Styrofoam cups in the House's cafeteria.

From The Hills (3/8/2011):

A group of Democrats complain Styrofoam cups in the House cafeteria could contain carcinogens.

In a letter to Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and other Republican leaders, the nine Democrats say the Styrofoam cups and other dining materials could hold chemical components that could cause cancer. The Democrats are upset with the switch to Styrofoam from recyclable materials put into place when Democrats ran the House.

The letter asks Boehner to reconsider the switch away from recyclable to polystyrene-based foam containers, and warns that the health of visitors to the Capitol could be compromised.

"The irresponsibility of the decision to use polystyrene foam without considering other options is all the more egregious because the cafeteria is not merely used by House members and our staffers," the lawmakers write. "The health of constituents and visitors to the Hill who eat in the cafeteria will be impacted by this short-sighted decision."

Yes yes, it's all about the health of constituents and visitors.

I have a better idea. Get rid of the cafeteria. We don't have money. If those legislators want have a cancer-free cafeteria, they can chip in. After all, there are so many millionaires in the House who could easily spare some dollars to set up their own, taxpayer-money-free, cafeteria. Right, Ms. Pelosi (who is worth $58 million)? Maybe Hillary ($31 million) and Obama ($5 million) can chip in, too.

#Libyans, don't count on the US government to do anything meaningful for anybody anywhere. Their priority is a cancer-free, and free cups of coffee and tea, courtesy of the US taxpayers.

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ACORN Sues Congress on Constitutional Ground

no, it is not a joke.

ACORN Sues Over 'Unconstitutional' Funding Cuts By Congress
(Joseph Abrams, 11/12/09 Fox News)

"In an attempt to regain the millions in funding it lost in the wake of a hidden-camera scandal, ACORN is suing the federal government over congressional legislation that cut off funding to the community organizing group.

"Representatives for ACORN sued the federal government Thursday morning in an attempt to regain the millions of dollars in funding the community organizing group lost after filmmakers videotaped its workers offering advice on how to commit tax fraud and various other felonies.

"The suit charges Congress with violating the Constitution when it passed legislation in September that specifically targeted ACORN to lose federal housing, education and transportation funds.

"That qualifies the legislation as bills of attainder, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of ACORN. A bill of attainder punishes a person or group without the benefit of a trial, and is illegal under Article 1 of the Constitution."

This is hilarious. It's great that ACORN is now on board defending the Constitution (as long as it suits them, maybe). Was it constitutional, by the way, for Congress to have kept funding ACORN all these years? The last I read about "bills of attainder" was when I was reading about Richard III and Henry VII.

The article continues:

"The lawsuit itself singles out three defendants -- Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Director of the Office of Management and the Budget Peter Orszag, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan.

"The three were responsible for facilitating the defunding of ACORN by Congress, according to attorneys for the Center for Constitutional Rights.

"ACORN claims it has been badly hurt by the congressional actions, and has had to fire workers and close some of its 1,200 branches around the country.

"Though it remains unclear precisely how much money the national organization was receiving from federal sources and aid programs, a lawyer pressing the suit said ACORN has already lost an amount "in the millions" since the freeze took effect."

And we don't even know how much money ACORN has been receiving.

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Federal Reserve to Hire Lobbyist to Counter Skepticism

The Federal Reserve, whose chairman recently expressed concern over the growing federal deficit, intends to hire a lobbyist to counter skepticism on Capitol Hill over the Fed's ever-increasing influence.

The lobbyist the Fed plans to hire, Linda Robertson, did the lobbying for Enron. She also worked under three Treasury Secretaries - Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, and Lloyd Bentsen.

Fed Intends to Hire Lobbyist in Campaign to Buttress Its Image (6/5/09, Bloomberg)

"The Federal Reserve intends to hire a veteran lobbyist as it seeks to counter skepticism in Congress about the central bank’s growing power over the U.S. financial system, people familiar with the matter said.

"Linda Robertson currently handles government, community and public affairs at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and headed the Washington lobbying office of Enron Corp., the energy trading company that collapsed in 2002 after an accounting scandal. She was also an adviser to all three of the Clinton administration’s Treasury secretaries.

"Robertson would help the Fed manage relations with lawmakers seeking greater oversight of a central bank that has used emergency powers to prevent Wall Street’s demise."

This alone shows, to me, very eloquently, that the Federal Reserve is NOT PART OF THE GOVERNMENT but basically a private industry group, a cartel. The banking cartel wants to reassure the ever-skeptical and critical Congress that the increasing power of the Fed over the financial and economic system is a good thing, nothing to worry about. Audit the Fed? Oh don't worry and don't waste your time and resource, we know what we're doing...

After a disasterous performance by the Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn, the Fed should worry about the general public slowly but surely catching on. Here's a video clip of Mr. Kohn grilled by a Florida Democrat Alan Grayson over the Fed's balance sheet. (SO WHERE HAS THE MONEY GONE, Mr. Kohn?)

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