[GPSCC-chat] Documenting Crony Capitalism?

[Spencer Graves]

Hello, All:


       What would you say are the highest profile issues locally, 
statewide and nationally?


       I ask, because I just initiated a project for "Documenting crony 
capitalism" on Wikiversity (a sister project to Wikipedia; see 
"http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Documenting_crony_capitalism"). I want 
to prioritize issues and start documenting the different parties 
involved in the issue(s) likely to receive the greatest public attention 
over the next several months.  This would include whatever we can get 
about the money involved in several aspects of the story:


             1.  How much money does the parties stand to gain or lose 
in any likely governmental decision?


             2.  How much do they spend on advertising?  (By shifting 
their advertising budgets, businesses have threatened the financial 
future of otherwise profitable commercial media.)


             3.  How much do they spend on campaign finance?


              4.  How much do they spend on lobbying?


       Is social security likely to be the biggest issue nationally? 
What about Santa Clara County?  Public safety?


       After I've got something in this area, I want to start trying to 
arrange presentations at different groups to try to recruit volunteers 
to help increase both the utility of the information compiled there and 
its dissemination.


      Thanks,
      Spencer


-- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com