Eric "Kiss Off" Cantor talks to select few

Poor Eric Cantor gets so nonplussed when he has to deal with people who aren't simpering sycophants. He canceled a appearance at Wharton School in Philly this weekend because it was open to the public! Seeing protesters outside of your venue, and risking one's perfectly coiffed hair in a confrontation with a hostile questioner are kinds of challenges a top leader in our oligarchic republic cannot abide.

Cantor

Better for this professional politician from a safe district to stick to dealing with the real tough issues, meeting with rich business interests who wish to regurgitate Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute talking points:

Fredericksburg.com - Biotech owners seeking clarity: "--Several biotech business owners told Rep. Eric Cantor that federal regulations and incentives are often overlapping, mismatched and confusing.
Cantor, the House majority leader and Republican from the 7th District, held a roundtable discussion with half a dozen business owners at the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park in Richmond this week.

Businesses represented included renewable resources; bakery systems that allow mass production of breads such as hamburger buns; pharmaceuticals; and diagnostic health care companies.

Cantor said he was there to hear from businesses that are success stories and wanted the business owners to talk about how federal policy changes could help them be even more successful.

In a comment that has become common during this recession, several of the speakers talked about needing more consistency and less complexity in the federal rules that affect them."

This has become a favorite talking point of business elites: they just can't plan to expand and hire workers and do the things that lead to a robust economic recovery when they're in such suspense about government regulations! Give 'em a break!

The only thing we don't hear is how 30 years already of dismantling of the government's regulatory apparatus, and letting businesses write the rules to regulate themselves in a way that ensures a monopolistic free-for-all has left them feeling so overburdened with regulations!

When BP's oil rig, Deepwater Horizon, exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, there was any number of horror stories about how the regulators were in bed with the industry, and spent more time partying than regulating. Ditto the so-called regulators at the SEC who were supposed to restrain the big Wall Street firms from crashing the economy -- but instead were otherwise occupied, watching porn, for example.

The legislative record in DC is littered with horror stories of how industry writes the rules under which they operate, and yet this is somehow unsatisfactory. Recall the alleged reform of the healthcare system -- known as "Obamacare" -- which was negotiated behind closed doors between the administration and the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, and which resulted in a system where everyone is compelled to buy insurance -- no matter how crappy or expensive.

One can go on and on, but it would probably be a healthy exercise for readers to take the time themselves to look into the "revolving door" between defense contractors and the Pentagon. When it comes to rules and regulations, what prevents the US military from being the world's biggest polluter? If your answer is "nothing", you're correct.

Fact is, industry is all for government regulation when it profits them -- which it often does. This is why corporations find shills like Eric Cantor so useful. He can steer business and benefits to his benefactors at the expense of the general public, and then claim that he's working hard to bring jobs to Americans.

With the debased regulatory regime of the past 30 years, you would think the US would be riding high on a wave of prosperity -- but all we hear is that the regulatory burden is too onerous, taxes are too high and big business is under siege like never before.

This is Eric Cantor's fight -- for the corporations and the wealthy, who feel a sense of entitlement that would make a welfare queen blush. To Cantor, the Occupy Wall Street protesters are an unruly mob, instead of the majority of voters -- FOX News watchers included -- who are fed up with a system that corrupt and not working for the people.

No wonder Cantor doesn't want to speak at any event where he might had to answer to the average citizen. It's also why his worthless ass needs to get a nice, cozy job as a lobbyist and quit pretending he represents the people.