confused of calcutta

Michael Massing makes an interesting point in the FT today, you can find an excerpt of the article here.

My takeaway from his comments is as follows:

• 1. US corporates spend an awful lot of money lobbying government on a variety of issues
• 2. The sectors that do the lobbying (eg automobiles, utilities, entertainment) spend this awful lot of money seeking to preserve the status quo
• 3. That represents a significant opportunity cost
• 4. They may get more bang for the buck in a global connected world by using the money to improve what they do

I must admit that I have not considered the opportunity cost aspect of the lobbying approach enough in the past. Thank you Mr Massing.