An important factor on what a corporation might be able to "afford" is the return on that spending. There's a nice short story from NPR's Planet Money [1] estim

An important factor on what a corporation might be able to "afford" is the return on that spending. There's a nice short story from NPR's Planet Money [1] estimating on the order of a 22,000% return for money spent on lobbying. Granted that estimate was for tax breaks specifically, but it rather suggests big industries can't afford /not/ to lobby. [1] http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/01/06/144737864/forget-stocks-or-bonds-invest-in-a-lobbyist http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/01/06/144737864/forge...