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It's comforting to believe that large corporations with the greed of the rich and powerful is what makes these inefficiencies but really it's about a million li
by cm2012 1mo ago
It's comforting to believe that large corporations with the greed of the rich and powerful is what makes these inefficiencies but really it's about a million little political negotiations, primarily driven by voters dislike of change.
- schubidubiduba 1mo agoIt's comforting to believe that actual voters have that kind of political influence over these things, but really it's about a million little talls, primarily driven by lobbyists commanded by big companies
- danlugo92 1mo agoPeople still in bubbles in the big 2026
- cm2012 1mo agoYou are about 20 years out of date. Modern politicians get almost all of their funding from small donations, in other words, from passionate partisans who care about culture war issues.
- worik 1mo agoI find that difficult to believe, having been involved in political campaigning (not in EU or USA). Have you evidence?
- cm2012 1mo agoSure. Here is us politician finances from 2024. Note that the vast majority is from individual contributors. Only 6-8% of us political funding in 2024 came from business-PAC contributions. https://www.fec.gov/resources/campaign-finance-statistics/2024/tables/congressional/ConCand1_2024_24m.pdf https://www.fec.gov/resources/campaign-finance-statistics/20... Further splits here: https://www.fec.gov/resources/campaign-finance-statistics/2024/tables/pac/PAC2_2024_24m.pdf https://www.fec.gov/resources/campaign-finance-statistics/20... There are exceptions to this of course but most politicians answer to voters much much much more than big business.
- jppittma 1mo agoThat's because megadonors don't give to candidates directly? In order to trigger the unlimited campaign finance guaranteed by citizens united, you create a super pac. They can't openly coordinate with the candidate.
- cm2012 1mo agoIf you add in all super PACs and outside spending, it would make up roughly 30-35% of the overall expidenture. That's a lot but super PAC money is worth much less to a campaign compared to donations because it can't be used for core expenses like labor.
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- jollyllama 1mo agoHow is that comforting? The phenomenon is entirely negative.
- cm2012 1mo agoBecause if it's just a few evil people making the world bad then that's fixable. The truth that it is it's an extraordinarily complex stew of incentives means its harder to fix.
- jollyllama 1mo ago> Because if it's just a few evil people making the world bad then that's fixable The conclusion does not necessarily follow the premises
- eptcyka 1mo agoSure, cynically, you can use the argument that we can’t just limit the influence of megacorps because the problem is more complex than that. Sure, but limiting them will still help. Why not do the obvious thing that can still help? There are some simple things we as a people or a conglomeration of peoples can do to curb the enthusiasm for state level corruption. It is doable. It will not solve everything - but surely we can still do it.
- victorbjorklund 1mo agoIt’s both. Massive regulation is usually driven by good intentions, populism. Large corporations often don’t mind when it means it would prevent smaller companies from competing with them.