Submitted by Ken Watts on Thu, 12/02/2010 - 11:17 Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream In 2009, more than 13,700 registered lobbyists spent a record $3.5 billion swaying government policy the special interests' way, double the amount lobbyists spent as recently as 2002. Arianna Huffington