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Mr. Doepfner seems to fear Google's power. As a newspaper publisher, that is reasonable. But in a wider societal context, as he seems to be implying, it is nons

Mr. Doepfner seems to fear Google's power. As a newspaper publisher, that is reasonable. But in a wider societal context, as he seems to be implying, it is nonsense. Google has so little political influence that the city council won't let them build a twenty-foot bridge over a creek between two Google office buildings (http://rationalconspiracy.com/2014/04/17/money-doesnt-matter-in-politics/ http://rationalconspiracy.com/2014/04/17/money-doesnt-matter...).

smacktoward 13y ago
Maybe at the local level that's true, but at the Federal level, this is changing. Google used to be very politically uninvolved, but they did a 180 on that a few years back and started aggressively building a strong lobbying arm a few years back [1], hiring a high-profile ex-Congresswoman, Susan Molinari, to head it up [2]. This operation has grown to the point where in 2013 Google hit #8 on the list of corporations that spend the most lobbying Congress [3], with lobbying outlays greater than those of Comcast and Lockheed. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-google-is-transforming-power-and-politicsgoogle-once-disdainful-of-lobbying-now-a-master-of-washington-influence/2014/04/12/51648b92-b4d3-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-google-is-transfo... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/business/susan-molinari-adds-to-googles-political-firepower.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/business/susan-molinari-ad... [3] http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/4/4394234/google-eight-biggest-record-lobbying-washington http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/4/4394234/google-eight-bigges...
- Datsundere 13y ago
  Seems like a right path to take down comcast.
- sounds 13y ago
  If you had as much money, would you not also spend some of it on lobbying? I believe Google's actions were defensive in nature. I despise our politicians who will take "contributions" and ignore the people who elected them; still, if I had that much money I'd probably be lobbying too.
  - wfjackson 13y ago
    Aren't there companies that don't really spend a lot of money on lobbying even if they make a lot of it? Like, say Apple.
    - jamesbritt 13y ago
      http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/23/apple-on-pace-to-double-lobbying-spending-over-taxes-other-issues http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/23/apple-on-pace-to-d... I guess it depends on what you consider "a lot of money."

smacktoward 13y ago

Maybe at the local level that's true, but at the Federal level, this is changing. Google used to be very politically uninvolved, but they did a 180 on that a few years back and started aggressively building a strong lobbying arm a few years back [1], hiring a high-profile ex-Congresswoman, Susan Molinari, to head it up [2]. This operation has grown to the point where in 2013 Google hit #8 on the list of corporations that spend the most lobbying Congress [3], with lobbying outlays greater than those of Comcast and Lockheed. [1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-google-is-transforming-power-and-politicsgoogle-once-disdainful-of-lobbying-now-a-master-of-washington-influence/2014/04/12/51648b92-b4d3-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-google-is-transfo... [2] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/business/susan-molinari-adds-to-googles-political-firepower.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/business/susan-molinari-ad... [3] http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/4/4394234/google-eight-biggest-record-lobbying-washington http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/4/4394234/google-eight-bigges...

Datsundere 13y ago
Seems like a right path to take down comcast.
sounds 13y ago
If you had as much money, would you not also spend some of it on lobbying? I believe Google's actions were defensive in nature. I despise our politicians who will take "contributions" and ignore the people who elected them; still, if I had that much money I'd probably be lobbying too.
- wfjackson 13y ago
  Aren't there companies that don't really spend a lot of money on lobbying even if they make a lot of it? Like, say Apple.
  - jamesbritt 13y ago
    http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/23/apple-on-pace-to-double-lobbying-spending-over-taxes-other-issues http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/05/23/apple-on-pace-to-d... I guess it depends on what you consider "a lot of money."