* How has lobbying changed in the Age of Obama? Peter Suderman at Reason Magazine has a good take on lobbying aro, breaking down some data and concluding:
I’m not exactly a fan of rent-seeking, but I hardly think businesses (or lobbyists) are particularly to blame for this sort of behavior. When the president and Congress decide it’s time to rebuild the entire framework by which an industry does business, you can hardly expect them to sit idly by as their livelihoods are manhandled by the federal government. That’s especially true when the plan is to turn more decision-making power over to the government: The more Washington stands to pick winners and losers in a particular sector of the economy, the more that industry will spend its money there.
