Hightower Lowdown

The big-money corruption of American politics will be on display at the national conventions of the Republican and Democratic parties this summer...but you can't see it without a ticket. A very pricey ticket. Both parties will portray themselves as heroic leaders for us common folk, and the media establishment and its pundits will focus on the pre- dictable speeches, politicking, and pageantry inside the hall. But the real story will be taking place at high-dollar, invitation- only events inside exclusive clubs, restaurants, and other hideaways of the elite. It's in these places— behind the velvet ropes that screen out all of us common folk–– that you can see political and money power ooze, schmooze, and merge into one. .

For example, maybe you've wondered why the banking laws of our great democracy are written in such a way that they allow bankers to rob you and me —such daylight robberies as their endless and always-rising fees, so-called privacy provisions that let them sell our personal financial information, etc. etc. It will all become clear to you if you go to the swank Rainbow Room in Manhattan on the night of August 30th, the opening day of the Republican National Convention. .

There you'll see Rep. Michael Oxley, chairman of the Financial Services Committee that supposedly oversees the banking industry. He'll be the guest of honor at a party paid for by J.P. Morgan Chase, Credit Suisse First Boston, and the other big banks that profit enormously from Chairman Oxley's willingness to legalize their robbery —banks that currently have bills before him to allow even more robbery. The banks are paying up to $100,000 each in tribute to the guy who writes the banking laws. .

Why won't even one network break away from the convention hall to cover this telling political event? Like at the Academy Awards, they could call out the names of the politicians and banking moguls as they pull up at the Rainbow Room in their limousines. Now that would be good TV!