Not to offend any lobbyists or politicos out there, but it's hard not to laugh when you hear someone proclaim to be an expert in politics. They talk about their deep, deep knowledge of politics. They understand the intricate, inner workings of Capitol Hill. Filibustering and pork are second nature to them. Why is it funny? Well because politics is about a lot of nonsense these days. It's hard to believe anything you hear. It's difficult to understand why some seemingly pointless bills pass, while seemingly intelligent bills don't see the light of day. The only way to really be informed is to read every line of every bill in an area of focus you are interested in, but that's not nearly enough. You also must know the history, voting record, current climate in their respective states, and other fun stuff about the key members of Congress involved as that is often a big part of the story. That's not even enough. You need to know what lobbying groups, what areas of industry are exerting influence on legislation. It's a wicked web to follow.

It's unfortunately filtered to the media. Fox is right, CNN is left, this paper is liberal that paper is conservative. The point is politics show up everywhere and unfortunately facts don't dominate the political game. The facts are hard to find, and even when they are found they are often ignored.

I bring this up because the lobbying efforts of the bankers (their politics) continue to show that their arguments (facts) hold no water, yet they still gain traction on Capitol Hill. It's laughable. If members of Congress looked just at the facts (forget us media types and the dedicated credit union lobbyists), they would be hard pressed to listen to banker calls to get credit unions taxed with a straight face.