5 ms·
This is incorrect: You can literally donate just $100K to political candidate and he would pass a law for you that makes your company 10s of millions for many
by dantheman 8y ago
This is incorrect:
You can literally donate just $100K to political candidate and he would pass a law for you that makes your company 10s of millions for many many years. It never ends to surprise me that political donations by commercial entities and ultra-rich is not considered a crime in US. In most other countries they are known as "bribe".
Companies cannot give money directly to politicians and individuals are limited. https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/limits.php https://www.opensecrets.org/overview/limits.php
Political Action Committees can accept money, but must be independent from a candidate.
- Retric 8y ago> must be (nominally) independent from a candidate. It sounds a lot more effective than it is. In practice it’s a non issue.
- michaelt 8y agoCompanies cannot give money directly to politicians According to [1] Paul Ryan accepted $121,700 from Blackrock Inc, and [2] says Charles Schumer accepted $102,950 from Lockheed Martin. Sounds like companies giving money to politicians to me? [1] https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary/paul-ryan?cid=N00004357 https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary/paul... [2] https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary/charles-schumer?cid=N00001093 https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary/char...
- maxerickson 8y agoThey are aggregating the contributions of people associated with the company. Look at https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00004357&cycle=2018 https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors... These tables list the top donors to candidates in the 2017 - 2018 election cycle. The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families. Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
- creaghpatr 8y agoCompanies also can lobby which is the more hedged way of influencing policy since an established industry think tank can have more staying power and influence than a single or handful representatives or senators. Edit: what I mean to say is that legal lobbying lowers the incentive to use campaign donations as a form of influence.