tavis: did evening from los angeles, i am have a smiley. --tavis smiley. first of tonight is a conversation with one of the leading voices against the rise of big business. he is the author is"so damn much money." so, richard schif stockf by. starting tomorrow night, he will be in "past life." that is coming up right now. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looking forward to doing, but mostly, we are looking forward to building

stronger communities and relationships. with your help, the best is yet to come. >> nationwide insurance problem supports smiley. and to improve literacy and economic power that comes wit it. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: he is a noted author that serves as a senior correspondent at the washington post. his most recent book is called "damn much money." joins us from washington.

it is good to have you on this program. >> it is nice to be with you. tavis: there is so much i want to get to. but i came across a ground -- a graph that i want to put on the screen and highlht a couple of things that puts into context what you were talking about in this book. this is a chart of what some of the major companies spent on lobbying in the year 2008 in the year 2009. there are a number of companies that you note on this list who have cut jobs. we are talking about companies like, connoco. i want to highlight a few things on this was. i do not know what these were lobbying about. in 2008, the u.s. chamber of

commerce and $91.7 million on lobbying. look at that 2009 nenumber, $134 million in lobbying just one year later. drop down here, 20 million in 2008 and 26 million in 2009. nbc is in the toilet right now. $19 million in 2008 and $25 million in 2009. look at pfizer, 12 million in 2008 and $24 million in 2009. look at fedex. $9 million in 20008, $17 million

in 2009. just a few examples of how money in washington, how lobbying is out of control. there are dramatically increasing and money that they spend on lobbying. what gives? >> what we are seeing is the impact of activist agenda from activist new president -- an activist new president. because of the influence of money, congress and the government have been avoiding the big national problems for a generation. we have all known that we had a health care crisis we knew that we had global warming. we knew that we had a whole list of big problems that were not being addressed. well, barack obama comes to town and he has taken all of these things on at once. a basic lesson about lobbying is

that all of these interest groups that you've just listed, they all think that they depend on what happens washington. all that money is going to try to make themselves heard, to argue their case, to look for a break, to look for aimmick, whatever it is. it is an amazing amount of money. let me say that a lot of that money is wasted. lobbying in washington is a great racket. there are a great number of lobbyists getting very rich. a lot of it has an impact and that narrows the playing field and narrows the range of issues that members of congress can take on and it is a huge national problem which i can not which is why i wrote a book about it. tavis: it raises something for me.

when can that obama was running for office, i know that one man is not capable of doing everything, but when he ran, he said over and over again that when he gets to washington, there is one to be a new day and lobbyist would not be running this town anymore. >> it is interesting. they have done a few things in the obama white house. they said that they will not hire lobbyists themselves. only a couple of lobbyists have gotten jobs in the obama administration. they set new standards for all of these abies recounts ls -- all of these advisory councils. they banned lobbyists from serving on all these panels. they had made the lobbyists in town feel like second-class citizens. but the bottom line is, business

is booming. obama made it -- one of the first things that they did when they launched the health-care initiative was to make a deal with a big -- with the big pharmaceutical makers. but promised $800 million for seniors and in return, the white house promised not to seek a new standard that would allow the government to do competitive bidding for drug acquisition for medicare and medicaid. it was an ugly, old fashioned washington deal i could understand why they had to make it.

tavis: and their stock is up. >> the countries of this as the same old gang. is this change you can believe them? it does not look that way to me. -- is this change you can believe them? it does not look th way to me -- is this change you can believe in? i am intrigued that he knew that this is bad and that it has to change. when you come to town, you want to make a splash at the outset. you cannot change it overnight and as you said, one man cannot change it. tavis: but it is not disrespectful that one man cannot change it. it is the people that were

inside that dome over your shoulder, they can not change either unless they have the courage to change it. if they make a decision that corporations can spend whatever they want. corporate money is free speech. the only people that can change that in washington is congress. congress -- the supreme court interprets the rules, and congress writes the rules. they have the power to rewrite this. why in the world would congress rewrite these rules when they are the beneficiaries of a lot of this money. >> you put your finger on it. that is the heart of the problem. congress cannot change the whole ruling that the supreme court issued. i think they can do a lot of creative things to limit the impact of it.

your point is exactly the right point. the beneficiaries -- there are only 535 clear beneficiaries in the system. that is 435 members of the house and 100 members of the senate. it is a lot to ask of these people. what they have to go through and the hoops that they have to jump through to raise the money that they need to run for reelection, it is really demeaning. these guys spend two or three days a week begging for money. >> why not meeting the campaign -- meaningful campaign finance reform. >> i am not ruling it out. someone has to take the lead. there has to be a big noise about it. i fear that the best hope is

that because of the new supreme court decision, there is a great new flood of money. who would have said a month ago that what politicians need is more money, but here comes the suprem court, opening the floodgates. people may just get so revolted that there is finally some kind of popular uprising. one of the tragic up -- tragic aspects is that people are so cynical about politicians in washington and so convinced that there will never do the right thing and that they do not complain. >> i guess the question is, whether or not president obama kendeigh and will be that voice -- obama can be and will be the boys.

he changed his mind when he couldn't raise $750 million without having to take that government match. he could really be the champion for campaign finance reform. >> i wasn't trying what he did in the state of the union address -- i was intrigued with what he did in the state of the union address. he keeps assuring me that the president is serious about this. there is so much going on and there are so many problems. the economy is such a huge problem to begin with. it is hard to see where he finds the time and energy to take on these things. he has already taken on more than i thought was conceivable. >> i am not sure i am encouraged about -- encouraged by that wait-and-see attitude.

mr. kaiser, good to have you on the program. >> up next, richard schiff. stay with us. >> he is a emmy-winning actor. starting tomorrow night, he is back in prime-time on the series "past life." here is a scene. >> how does it feel? >> i got the call about an hour ago. >> congratulations. >> way to go. >>the practical a kick me out of his office. you did this all by yourself. >> you were right.

>> let's have some champagne. >> you have refrigerator? -- you have a refrigerator? why don't i have a refrigerator? >> congratulations. >> it is nice to have you with us richard. >> it is pretty good. we are obsessive fans of "american idol." i will definitely be watching that. tavis: that clip was a nice clip. i am not sure it gives the story of what passed life is. ta>> but one thing about that clip is it took 11 takes to pop the cork or not champagne

bottle. >> it is an interesting show. i play a guy named malachi. it is an institute of behavioral science. i look at this guy as someone who is a healer. he was a scientist and a medical doctor and probably a psychologist and may be found some, and, in people that he could not answer to. -- some phenomenon in people that he cannot answer to. he came upon this reincarnation thing to answer some problems that people were having. i think that is to be is -- that

is to be is. -- that is who he is. >> appatavis: apparently, a lite bit different from "west wing." what attracted you to a series like this one? >> and one is a factor. -- employment is a factor. i drew upon times in my life when i got curious about it. there was a uncle of mine who was the best friend of my father. he ran a construction company. he was a tough guy. we used to go to his house every sunday to watch the giants.

one time, he took me to his dinner and this is just a regular guy with a cigar and in his dinner was a complete layout of every battle of the middle ages with hand-painted soldiers and all these artifacts and as someone got him interested in this stuff and he did not have an answer. he was always fascinated by this particular era. my son is a latin freak and an ancient rome free for particular reason. i once ran into a woman who was a hit the back in the old days that had red hair and was kind of attractive. i asked her what -- i asked her how she knew what life she had been in. >> what ever dates in history that you find yourself attracted to is a hint. >> that is the only explanation

from my uncle said. >> tavis: that would mean that i was hanging around doing something in the '60s. >> for me it was june 6, 1944. i was always attracted to the more magazine pieces abouthe particular day. but i can go on about that. i just find it possible and interesting. >tavis: i want to stick to this point. has the poull to that date cause you to do anything in reference to it? >> interestingly enough, i directed a play back in new york that was about the battle of the bulge.

we had authentic world war ii infantry rifles and uniforms and helmets. i picked up this rifle and i felt some kind of connection to it. of course, the producer insisted on full blanks. when i would fire in the theater, the whole audience would elevate from the concussion. we came across this bunker that was buried and had a very particular reaction to that. it has not led me to anything except that i am fascinated with that day in history and i am fascinated with world war two.

the first play that i directed, i would ask questions about that era. i and just -- i do not know what that means. >tavis: you have connections to history. i think i can raise this. i am going to, but if i cannot, i will. so, your stepfather, -- he was one of dr. king's personal lawyers. what was it like growing up with a stout rather who was hanging out with this man named keeing. >> it was pretty interesting. i have the normal 40 and problems with that fathers. he said something that resonates

to this day. you know his life and he was involved with ali frazier. i could not even get live radio. he said that one of his downturns in his career was when he was defending rapists and drug dealers. i guess -- i ask them how you make sense of that. he said it was because when due process is violated, when iran is violated, we have laws -- we have lost freedom in this country. he made sure that every citizen received their due process and

representation. it was not up to him to judge the crime, but to represent the client the way that the law allowed and expected you to. he once defended the mafia character that was kidnapped illegally in mexico and taken back to the united states because they could not get extradition. this was in clear violation and he's a lot -- he successfully defended them. we went to this restaurant and all the guys came to pay their respects. i have great respect for them. he was also on the negotiating commtee. that happened while i was living with him. >> to your point, given that

your stepfather happens to be an african-american and your mother is white, did that open your eyes? you obviously were exposed to a relationship in the house that was black and white. what did that do for you as a kid? >> i had grown up on the west side of manhattan. it is uniquely mixed. there was a poor return balance and a black element and jews and irish and everything. i was used to being together, except there was always a separation and the lunchroom. it became a norma existence. i had some step siblings that were black and we got along.

it ceased to be an issue. i was aware that it was an issue for other people, and we had moved up to the bronx when they got married. it was kind of a nice neighborhood. we used to go jogging in the morning, every single day. we put on our sweats and go jogging. he would get pulled over by the cops, which was stunning to me. this was a very successful man. the cops would harass him. he was a black man running in a predominantly wealthy neighborhood. >> that will usually bring attention to the cops. >> in those days. tavis: if i put on my running shoes and start running through bellaire, i would get pulled over. >> the new show is called "fast life."

that is our show for tonight. catch us on the weekends on pri. you can access our web site. until then, good night from los angeles. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit pbs.org. but joining me next time is the avatar composer james horne. we will see you then. >> nationwide insurance problem supports tavis smiley.

tavis and nationwide experience, bradley or letters. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you. thank you.