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The Families Funding the 2016 Presidential Election
- aaronbrethorst 11y agoQuoting the article—please take this away if nothing else: But regardless of industry, the families investing the most in presidential politics overwhelmingly lean right, contributing tens of millions of dollars to support Republican candidates
- shalmanese 11y agoThe Republican primary is competitive and the Democratic one is not. It makes sense that there would be early money being pumped in on the Republican side. In 2012, both sides basically raised the same amount of money by election day: http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance
- SmokyBorbon 11y agoThis article is about direct contributions from individuals. This is just a fraction of the donations to political campaigns. For example, you don't find any mention of labor unions which provide more money than individuals and donate almost exclusively to democrats. And we haven't mentioned corporations. Imagine a giant hammer and sickle and a McDonalds arch so large that you can't see the pile of monopoly pieces or even the White House behind them.
- aaronbrethorst 11y ago2012's biggest individual contributors: https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?cycle=2012 https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?cycle=2012 The first two items in the list are both Sheldon Adelson ActBlue is primarily individuals donating to democratic candidates they support. #4 backed republicans almost exclusively. Interestingly, their founder funded Oliver North's legal defense in the Iran-Contra scandal. More on his 2012 campaign funding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Simmons#2012_presidential_election https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Simmons#2012_presidenti... Only when you get to #5 do you see union money. But, the interesting thing about that money is Most of the political work of the Service Employees International Union is funded by about 300,000 janitors, nurses' aides, child-care providers and other members who voluntarily contribute on average $7 per month to SEIU's Committee on Political Education (COPE). http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/20/AR2010102004912.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10... --- So, the top 5 list for 2012 literally consists of 2 people on the Republican side and hundreds of thousands or millions of people on the Democratic side.
- greenyoda 11y agoThere's also no mention of Eric Schmidt, who has funded a company to help Clinton's campaign: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10359225 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10359225 "The Groundwork, according to Democratic campaign operatives and technologists, is part of efforts by Schmidt — the executive chairman of Google parent-company Alphabet — to ensure that Clinton has the engineering talent needed to win the election." Not all huge contributions to political campaigns are cash given directly to the candidate. Non-cash contributions, like Schmidt's, are much harder to track and regulate.
- hugh4 11y agoWe should be happy that these kind benefactors are investing so much to produce free entertainment for the rest of us.
- __Joker 11y agoRandom thought, do people quantify investment in politics, if not in pure numbers, at least in some ball park figures ? Like, markets are down, we are better off investing 10 million in presidential elections.
- venomsnake 11y agoCongress and the President oversee roughly 3-4 trillion dollar per year budget. Even in best years throwing billions in elections will yield enviable ROI.
- venomsnake 11y agoThe article is pretty thin on substance. > in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. While this is a certain class of activist wet dream, the reality contradicts it. Big business is becoming increasingly good at doing what is best for them. They also learned to use treaties for overriding/bypassing a nation's laws. Power is getting increasingly concentrated.