July 25, 2011 11:47AM 

# Lobbyists Are Doing Fine in the Recession 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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In this week’s Encyclopedia Britannica column I [write](http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2011/07/cry-lobbyists/):

> Headlines this week [reported](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59557.html) a slight decline in reported expenditures by federal lobbyists. Of course, it would have been hard to keep up the pace set as companies and other interest groups fought to get a piece of the TARP bailout, the massive stimulus bill, the [omnibus](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/story?id=7061084&page=1) appropriations bill, the health care bill, and other spending and regulatory bills that passed during the 2008–2010 legislative frenzy.
> 
> 
> But don’t worry about the big lobbying firms. They’ll do fine.

I explain why those reports can be misleading, cite Adam Smith and F. A. Hayek and lots of recent news stories, and conclude:

> Lobbying is one of the costs—not the worst cost, but certainly a galling one—of a [government](http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/apr/13/text-obamas-2011-budget-speech/) that is “generous and compassionate,” based on “a progressive vision of our society,” a [government](http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/inaugural-address/) that “helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified,” a [government](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4967) that “directs help to the inspired and the effective,” a [government](http://pelosi.house.gov/news/press-releases/2006/09/releases-Sept06-EconomicSecurity.shtml) that will “restore the security of working families.” If that’s the government you want, then lobbying is an inevitable adjunct. Let’s not forget that analysis from Craig Holman of Public Citizen: *“the amount spent on lobbying … is related entirely to how much the federal government intervenes in the private economy.”*

[Read the whole thing](http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2011/07/cry-lobbyists/).

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[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) 

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