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Just to put these numbers into perspective, something the infographic fails to do even though it slaps on the label "Big Money", Americans spend 15x more on pet
by regnum 14y ago
Just to put these numbers into perspective, something the infographic fails to do even though it slaps on the label "Big Money", Americans spend 15x more on pet food than both political candidates and parties combined spend on political speech.
http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/Index.cfm?Page=USPetFoodSales http://www.petfoodinstitute.org/Index.cfm?Page=USPetFoodSale...
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- regnum 14y agoAmericans spend about 2x more on Halloween candy ($2.2B)
- andreasvc 14y agoThat money will be spread rather evenly over the population such that everyone spends some small amount. What's scary about the political donations is that small groups of people with particular interests spend vast amounts of money; it's this part of the comparison that matters, not the total sum.
- dr_doom 14y agoI don't know why comparing political donations to food puts these numbers in perspective. A better comparison is other nations fundraising. Canadians spend less on campaigns than the "biggest spenders" on that chart combined, with 37 million citizens. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_Canada http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_political_financing_in_... During the 2010 presidential election Brazilians spent $2 billion on campaigns and have ~200 million citizens. http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-24/world/world_global-campaign-finance_1_party-spending-public-funding-political-parties/3?_s=PM:WORLD http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-24/world/world_global-campai...
- m_myers 14y agoFrom this tiny sample, it appears that the US is fairly average. Has anyone compiled a fuller list of per capita campaign costs by country? I could find none.
- makmanalp 14y agoBecause pets are a luxury, but political participation is a necessity for the country to work properly.
- andreasvc 14y agoPolitical donations are not a necessity for the country to work properly. Pets may be a luxury, but once you have them feeding them is arguably a necessity. What's missing is whether they are buying more luxurious food than necessary. Anyway, in the end it's a completely arbitrary comparison.
- makmanalp 14y agoPoint taken about having to feed them once you have them. And I agree that political donations are not a necessity, but only if donations are banned, which is not the case. If your opponents are getting donations, then you are at a net loss if you don't. In that sense, being idealistic does not get you supporters, and donations really are necessary.
- onetwothreefour 14y agoFeeding pets isn't a luxury. Without food, they die.