All over the news – including here on The Takeaway – we’ve been hearing about Occupy Wall Street and the complaints of the “99 percent” against politicians and big corporate interests. But what exactly is the Occupy Wall Street movement alleging? One of the protesters’ main complaints is that the political system is currently in the grips of corporate financial control. They may have a point, but how strong is their argument? Is our political system truly broken by the amount of money injected to campaign financing or by the lobbyists who peddle influence on K Street? Or, have money and special interests always been part of the political process? Jared Bernstein, senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and former economic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, discusses the influence of corporate money on American politics.
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