November 28, 2012
Dear members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this; I will try to be to the point.
Money motivates people. If money is allowed to influence the rules governing society, it creates a feedback loop in which the most effective expenditure of money is on altering the rules that govern money itself. Monetary theory assumes that we are competitive and separate, rather than cooperative and interconnected. Because of this, it allow people to think of money as it's own justification: I made money, therefor it was a good idea or I made money so it doesn't matter if I hurt people. What your role is as people who craft the conventions by which we live is to demonstrate foresight about the eventual ramifications of our idea and thus beliefs. What makes an idea an good idea? Foresight is the difference.
As long political influence can be bought, either through lobbying, or through contributions (to say nothing of more sinister uses like funding wars and economic hitmen), money will remain the sole metric of the validity of ideas, not its long term effects on health and social well being. We must limit how money can be used for the same reasons we must limit the threat of violence and all other ways to motivate people; unrestrained self interest leads back into the brutal jungle of kill or be killed, a dog eat dog world.
I am writing to urge the SEC to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending.
Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much the corporation spends on politics and which candidates are being promoted or attacked. Disclosures should be posted promptly on the SEC's web site.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Tameron Josbeck, BSCE, EIT
Sincerely,
Tameron JOsbeck