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Swiss Billionaire’s Mega-Influence on U.S. Politics
- lastofthemojito 4y ago> Despite being a power player in U.S. politics for decades, it was unclear whether or not Wyss is a permanent resident in the United States or an American citizen According to https://www.wyssfoundation.org/about https://www.wyssfoundation.org/about: "A native of Switzerland who now lives in Wilson, Wyoming" Although I'm sure like any billionaire it's hard to pin down one place of residency - with such means at their disposal, surely they spend quite a lot of time in quite a lot of places.
- LNSY 4y agoPoor guy must have gotten priced out of Jackson Hole. Sad.
- lastofthemojito 4y agoAccording to the Wikipedia page Wilson has the highest adjusted average gross income in the US[0]. I guess that's not too surprising when, out of just 1500 residents, one's a billionaire, one's a former US vice-president, another is a former Hollywood big shot, etc. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson,_Wyoming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson,_Wyoming
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- daenz 4y ago>Wyss told Swiss reporter Giorgio V. Müller in a 2011 interview that “as a non-American" he was only barred from donating money in federal elections. “Otherwise,” he said at the time, “as a foreigner, everything was possible for me.” Can someone explain in simple terms why wealthy individuals who are not US citizens can become so hell bent on influencing American politics? If you're so invested, just become a citizen!
- woodruffw 4y agoThe short answer, from an American perspective: we love influencing the rest of the world, so they'd like to return the favor. Plus, this way you don't have to pay US income tax.
- daenz 4y agoSo they're trying to improve America as revenge?
- woodruffw 4y agoI don't see a revenge motive. More like "I believe my country/business/whatever is unduly influenced by this superpower, so I'm going to influence the superpower directly."
- gpm 4y agoAs a Canadian this is a good description of why I make a fair number of comments about US politics on the internet. I'm not sure I'd call it unduly though, it's somewhat inevitable that superpowers influence foreign politics.
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- olivermarks 4y agoAmericans love to think they 'influence the rest of the world'. The reality is that a powerful cabal of billionaire offshore oligarchs such as Hansjörg Wyss effectively manipulate planetary politics to their ends. Given Wyss's altitude it seems likely he is meddling in many other sovereign state's politics too
- woodruffw 4y agoThe null hypothesis is that both dominate the world's politics. No need to be picky.
- woodruffw 4y agoThere's an undercurrent of special pleading in this reporting: conservative judicial activism is what got us into this mess and the last decade has seen conservative groups trounce progressive ones in terms of raising "dark" money, but it's suddenly a problem when a progressive foreigner plays by the same rules. Hmm. And in case it isn't clear: I'd like to ban all private money from public elections. But there's a clear bias in the reporting here, which is unfortunately consistent with RCP "losing the plot" w/r/t being a nonpartisan news source.
- daenz 4y ago>conservative groups trounce progressive ones in terms of raising "dark" money, but it's suddenly a problem when a progressive foreigner plays by the same rules. What are some foreign conservative billionaires that we should be worried about?
- johnthebaptist 4y agoVladimir Putin
- mc32 4y agoPutin wants to destabilize. He's not trying to shape politics one way or another. He wants chaos and anarchy for his enemies. However, lots of billionnaires wish to influence society toward their "vision".
- johnthebaptist 4y agoHe’s a conservative foreign billionaire and influences US politics (which addressed the parent’s question in my opinion). And he’s certainly trying to “shape politics one way or the other”. The whole disaster is in Ukraine is based on shaping geopolitics. And US conservative politicians and pundits have been used in the run up for that purpose
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- QuickMVP 4y agoYou should worry more about NRA, Reglious cults & Drug companies funding politics than any other business. Americas stupidity is spreading even in developing world now. Concepts such as flatearth, creationist theory, anti-abortion, owning guns and mass shootings and ponzi schemes. America is settings a bad example
- bayareabadboy 4y agoHonestly has anyone ever been swayed by a political ad? I wonder if this is something both the left and the right freak out way too much about. I’m just not convinced people’s political opinions are that malleable. Also, I do believe in the power of ads otherwise. But I wonder if politics is for most people, a little different, a little more tribal, like sports fandom.
- mbg721 4y agoThe conventional wisdom is that political ads don't change people's minds about who to vote for, but they do change people's minds about whether to bother voting (or voting for a major party and not a throwaway third-party).
- bayareabadboy 4y agoI wonder if it’s a self fulfilling prophecy to some extent. Like big money follows the tailwinds. Republican enthusiasm is high right now, maybe big democrat money isn’t being spent this cycle because of that. Idk, I have absolutely no data to back this up.
- mbg721 4y agoThis cycle is a little different from other recent ones, though. Democrats are in charge of the White House, both houses of Congress, big media, big business (everything except the Supreme Court), and people's lives are still getting worse in ways they can't ignore. Money can buy messaging, but I don't think the truly-undecided public are buying it.
- usrn 4y agoI vote independent often and had considered voting democrat a few times. The last few years have made me hope that party goes the way of the Whigs.
- throw0101a 4y ago> Honestly has anyone ever been swayed by a political ad? You may wish to 'enbiggen' your circle of friends and start associating with people on the left-hand side of the bell curve. For example, folks who take horse deworming medication for COVID: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivermectin_during_the_COVID-19... Further, modern propaganda does not try to convince ('The Russian "Firehose of Falsehood" Propaganda Model'): * https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html https://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html