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Interest Groups

Interest Groups. Interest Groups. Definition Vs. Social Movement Why does America have so many? Constitution Veto Points. Why is a particular group powerful?. Size Resources Leadership Cohesiveness Logic of Collective Action. Roles of Interest Groups. Representation Participation

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Interest Groups

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  1. Interest Groups

  2. Interest Groups • Definition • Vs. Social Movement • Why does America have so many? • Constitution • Veto Points

  3. Why is a particular group powerful? • Size • Resources • Leadership • Cohesiveness • Logic of Collective Action

  4. Roles of Interest Groups • Representation • Participation • Education • Agenda Building • Program monitoring

  5. Types of Interest Groups Economic • Business / Trade Association • Agricultural • Labor • Public Employees • Professional Associations Environmental Public Interest (no economic self-interest in the issue) Single Issue Foreign Governments

  6. Strategies Direct: Lobbying Publishing Ratings of Legislators Building Alliances with Other Groups on Particular Bills (Coalition building) Campaign Assistance (workers, endorsements) Indirect: Generate Public Pressure (advertising) Ask Constituents to Contact Their Legislators

  7. Raiding the Public Purse Historian of Athens Alexander Tyler (1787): “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship.” In other words, the risk is the capture of public resources for private use.

  8. Corporate Welfare 1. Direct Grants to Businesses 2. Programs That Provide Research and Other Services for Industries 3. Programs That Provide Subsidized Loans or Insurance to Businesses 4. Tax Relief to Particular Firms and/or Industries

  9. Business Objections to Welfare Even the pro-business CATO Institute opposes corporate welfare. 1. The federal government has a disappointing record of picking industrial winners and losers. 2. Corporate welfare is a huge drain on the federal treasury. Every year $75 billion of taxpayer money is spent on programs that subsidize businesses. 3. Corporate welfare creates an uneven playing field. By giving selected businesses and industries special advantages, corporate subsidies put businesses and industries that are less politically well connected at a disadvantage. 4. Corporate welfare fosters an incestuous relationship between business and government. 5. Corporate welfare programs are anti-consumer. 6. Corporate welfare is anti-capitalist. Corporate welfare has led to the creation in America of the ``statist businessman,'' who has been converted from a capitalist into a lobbyist. 7. Corporate welfare is unconstitutional. Corporate subsidy programs lie outside Congress's limited spending authority under the Constitution.

  10. Selected Corporate Tax Breaks • Accelerated Depreciation • Capital Gains Tax Breaks • Multinational Corporations • Industry-Specific Tax Subsidies

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