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Money is useful, but it's not a slam-dunk like people make it out to be. Look at Jeb Bush: that guy will never be anything except the butt of a political joke,

Money is useful, but it's not a slam-dunk like people make it out to be. Look at Jeb Bush: that guy will never be anything except the butt of a political joke, and he spent at least $150 million. It's not $1 billion, but are you going to tell me that giving Jeb 6x more money would've made him competitive?

username223 10y ago
I don't know if it would have made Jeb(!) competitive -- he was Hillary-level bad as a candidate -- but the amount of money spent on campaigns per persuadable voter in a swing state is getting scary. Let's say Trump doesn't get impeached or bored with the job, and runs for reelection in 2020. There are almost no viable Democrats younger than retirement age, and Zuck could drop a few billion on the primary and general. Or let's say that Trump serves through 2024. As long as Zuck picks a party instead of going full Ross Perot, he only has to shift a few hundred thousand voters in the right places.
- MichaelBurge 10y ago
  Theoretically, having SV work to make advertising more efficient reduces the impact of money. Clinton spent 50% more than Trump for a similar number of voters, and some argue that it was because Trump could use Facebook ads to target people with less money. Don't take me too seriously, but I wonder if there's a socially-valuable benefit here to the advertising industry, since it makes it easier for anyone to jump in and run for office.
  - username223 10y ago
    > it makes it easier for anyone to jump in and run for office. Don't take me too seriously, either, but I would say it makes it easier to translate money into other things. The surveillance economy is all about collecting information and renting it to the highest bidder. Buying crap you don't need? Voting for X instead of Y? Being sent to jail for doing Z? It doesn't matter -- money talks.
- ithinkinstereo 10y ago
  > he only has to shift a few hundred thousand voters in the right places. That's a solid point. Most people don't realize this, but Trump's path to re-election is really just a handful of key counties in a handful of key states. So long as he brings jerrrbbsss to those areas, he's going to win. If Zuck starts building FB data or operations centers in flyover, America, that'll all but confirm his intentions to run.

username223 10y ago

I don't know if it would have made Jeb(!) competitive -- he was Hillary-level bad as a candidate -- but the amount of money spent on campaigns per persuadable voter in a swing state is getting scary. Let's say Trump doesn't get impeached or bored with the job, and runs for reelection in 2020. There are almost no viable Democrats younger than retirement age, and Zuck could drop a few billion on the primary and general. Or let's say that Trump serves through 2024. As long as Zuck picks a party instead of going full Ross Perot, he only has to shift a few hundred thousand voters in the right places.

MichaelBurge 10y ago
Theoretically, having SV work to make advertising more efficient reduces the impact of money. Clinton spent 50% more than Trump for a similar number of voters, and some argue that it was because Trump could use Facebook ads to target people with less money. Don't take me too seriously, but I wonder if there's a socially-valuable benefit here to the advertising industry, since it makes it easier for anyone to jump in and run for office.
- username223 10y ago
  > it makes it easier for anyone to jump in and run for office. Don't take me too seriously, either, but I would say it makes it easier to translate money into other things. The surveillance economy is all about collecting information and renting it to the highest bidder. Buying crap you don't need? Voting for X instead of Y? Being sent to jail for doing Z? It doesn't matter -- money talks.
ithinkinstereo 10y ago
> he only has to shift a few hundred thousand voters in the right places. That's a solid point. Most people don't realize this, but Trump's path to re-election is really just a handful of key counties in a handful of key states. So long as he brings jerrrbbsss to those areas, he's going to win. If Zuck starts building FB data or operations centers in flyover, America, that'll all but confirm his intentions to run.