U.S. Chamber of Commerce Goes for the Extreme

[Purveyor]

April 7, 2016 10:30 AM EST
By
Barry Ritholtz

In 1912, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was created at the behest of President William Howard Taft as a business counterweight to the growing labor movement.

To say it was a success is an understatement. While organized labor has languished, the Chamber has become the single largest lobbying organization in the country. According to Open Secrets, a site that tracks political lobbying and spending, during the past 18 years the Chamber has spent three times more than any other organization on behalf of industry ($1.2 billion versus $351 million by the No. 2 lobbying group, the National Association of Realtors).

This is of great interest in the context of the Chamber's opposition to the new fiduciary rules for retirement accounts, requiring brokers to put savers' interests ahead of their own. Opposing the fiduciary standard may be pro-Wall Street, but it's anti-small business.

So I decided to do a bit of digging to find out where the Chamber’s advocacy pits it against broader business interests. What I found was that the Chamber is at odds with the interests of some, if not most, of its membership in three other areas: climate change, minimum wages and tobacco.

First, let's take a deeper look at the fiduciary rule: On one side is the financial industry, which manages about $14 trillion in various retirement plans. The president’s Council of Economic Advisers estimated that more than 10 percent of the advice given is conflicted in some way. That bad advice causes a performance lag of about 1 percent, costing investors an estimated $17 billion a year. This is money that otherwise would go into retirement-saving accounts. Wall Street, of course, isn't happy about the change and the vehemence of the opposition to the new rules make me suspect the losses for investors -- and the profits for the financial industry -- are much bigger.

more...

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-04-07/u-s-chamber-of-commerce-goes-for-the-extreme

[Wellstone ruled]

1. Single most powerfull

lobbying and money pass through group in America. Really surprised Bloomberg would do this story,although they slammed Bloomberg for talking about a Presidential run. The Chamber really dislikes Bernie and they spend tons on anti Bernie Ads which are hidden behind one of their many shell companies.

[nichomachus]

2. The average American has more to fear from the US Chamber

than from Al Qaeda and ISIS combined.

[Populist_Prole]

3. How true, how true.

A plutocratic "union" they are to counter labor...what's left of it.

As if being among TPTB they need an extra edge over the 99 percent.