The best democracy etc

[Gob]

Washington: With her campaign finally formally underway, Hillary Clinton hit the road on Monday to Iowa to begin to make her case for the presidency to the American people in the crucial early state.

Meanwhile in Miami one of her Republican rivals, the energetic young senator Marco Rubio was preparing to launch his own campaign with a rally before that city's Freedom Tower, a landmark to Cuban American refugees and a nod to his own heritage.

But during the day he had other business to attend to. Before getting around to making his announcement to the people Mr Rubio had to hit the phones and let his key donors know what he was up to.

Money has long been important in American politics, but since the Supreme Court case now known simply as Citizens United in 2010, the money race has spun out of control.

Rubio had good reason to speak to his donors before he addressed the voters.

In the Citizens United decision a conservative majority on the Supreme Court effectively created new categories of so-called Political Action Committees (PACs): independent non-profit groups, some of which could raise and spend as much as they liked, but had to open their books, so-called Super PACs, and others that could do so anonymously, which became known as dark money groups.

On paper these are tax-exempt social welfare groups. In practice they are political machines wealthy individuals, companies or unions can use to spend on their political allies as long as they keep a fig leaf of independence.

During the 2012 election, these political non-profits first truly flexed their muscles, backing their preferred candidates in advertising or – more commonly – attacking those they did not.

The era of dark money had begun.

To get an idea of how much money surged into the system after Citizens United you need to look back to 2008.

That year then Senator Obama spent $US730 million ($961 million) running for president, while Republican John McCain spent $US333 million.

In the 2012 election, two years after the Citizens United decision, what Obama and Romney campaigns spent no longer told the story. While the Obama campaign spent more than $US683 million, friendly outside groups raised total spending on behalf of Obama to more than $US1.1 billion.

The Romney campaign spent a relatively paltry $US433 million, but, thanks to the spending by outside groups like Crossroads GPS, which burned through more than $US176 million, the Republicans managed to spend well over $US1.2 billion to on Romney.

In other words, even though the Obama campaign significantly out-raised and outspent the Romney campaign, outside donors not technically affiliated with either candidate managed to give the Republican candidate a slight advantage in the campaign. In Romney's case, outside money accounted for almost one-third of all spending on his behalf.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 85 per cent of dark money spent in 2012 backed Republicans.

By the time the race was over, the total amount spent by both campaigns and their backers was $US2.5 billion.

This year it is estimated that Hillary Clinton and her backers will spend that amount in their own right should she receive the nomination, as she is expected to.

The entire race could cost around $US5 billion ($6.5 billion).

The impact this money will have is hard to predict.

It is believed that the support of quixotic billionaires kept otherwise flailing Republican primary campaigns alive longer than they would have in the normal circumstances.

This meant Mitt Romney spent more money and more time seeing off rivals like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum than he should have, leaving him weaker and poorer when he was finally able to turn his attention to Barack Obama.

In the coming election Hillary Clinton so far faces no serious rival among Democrats, while the Republican field is wide open.

It could be then though big money tends to flow to Republicans, much of it could be spent attacking one another. When Rand Paul announced his candidacy earlier this month he was hit with a $1 million ad spend from a conservative group accusing him of sharing Barack Obama's foreign policy views.

Peter Fenn, a Democratic strategist appalled by the changes in campaign finance law wrote in February that American voters were witnessing the equivalent of a money nuclear arms race.

"It resembles the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, except it is about money not weapons."

He noted in a piece for US News and World Report, that when the full affect of all this cash was turned on voters in the 2014 midterms, which cost $4 billion, voter turnout fell to its lowest level for a midterm since 1942. Just 36.4 per cent of eligible voters bothered casting a ballot.

You could get a decent health care system for the money you waste on dog and pony shows....

[rubato]

No we couldn't:

This year it is estimated that Hillary Clinton and her backers will spend that amount in their own right should she receive the nomination, as she is expected to.

The entire race could cost around $US5 billion ($6.5 billion).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/20 ... -trillion/


$6,500,000,000

$3,800,000,000,000



yrs,
rubato

[rubato]

And you elected a government who made the recession longer and deeper. Our government made the recovery faster.

Ours is worth more, that's why we pay more for it.


yrs,
rubato

[oldr_n_wsr]

Either way, the money spent is insane and it only reinforces the idea that the normal guy is not represented (nor cared about) by those elected.

[Sue U]

Either way, the money spent is insane and it only reinforces the idea that the normal guy is not represented (nor cared about) by those elected.

For that you can blame the activist conservative wing of the Supreme Court, right-wing organizations like Citizens United, Crossroads GPS and the John M. Olin Foundation; laissez-faire capitalists like the Koch brothers and Richard Mellon Scaife; anti-consumer legislative lobbyists like ALEC and the US Chamber of Commerce; and the scummier grades of political operatives who have torpedoed campaign finance reform. It is these weasels who ensure that government is bought by and run for the benefit of billionaires and big business.

[Gob]

And you elected a government who made the recession longer and deeper. Our government made the recovery faster.

Ours is worth more, that's why we pay more for it.


yrs,
rubato

One Million Dollars
$1,000,000 - Not as big of a pile as you thought, huh?
Still, this is 92 years of work for the average human on earth



122.1 Trillion Dollars
$122,100,000,000,000. - US unfunded liabilities by Dec 31, 2012. Above you can see the pillar of cold hard $100 bills that dwarfs the WTC & Empire State Building - both at one point world's tallest buildings.
If you look carefully you can see the Statue of Liberty.

The 122.1 Trillion dollar super-skyscraper wall is the amount of money the U.S. Government knows it does not have to fully fund the Medicare, Medicare Prescription Drug Program, Social Security, Military and civil servant pensions. It is the money USA knows it will not have to pay all its bills.

If you live in USA this is also your personal credit card bill; you are responsible along with everyone else to pay this back. The citizens of USA created the U.S. Government to serve them, this is what the U.S. Government has done while serving The People.


The unfunded liability is calculated on current tax and funding inputs, and future demographic shifts in US Population.

Note: On the above 122.1T image the size of the bases of the money stacks are $10 billion, and 400 stories @ $4 trillion

"It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world." - Thomas Jefferson

"This is when you need to remember that when a nation's economy collapses, the wealth of the nation doesn't disappear, it only changes hands."

Government Waste: Missing Money Infographic does a great job showcasing the Trillions lost through miss-management.

[Joe Guy]

Where does all of that campaign money go?

[Big RR]

And you elected a government who made the recession longer and deeper. Our government made the recovery faster.

Recovery? Decide for yourself.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-2 ... -yet-.html

Personally, while I think it has gotten somewhat better, the economy has not rebounded for most other than those with significant investment in stocks. A lot has been lost, especially on the jobs and pay front, not to mention those paying for education. We can quibble with what defines a "recovery", but a lot of people are still worse off than they were in 2007.

[Sue U]

Government Waste: Missing Money Infographic does a great job showcasing the Trillions lost through miss-management.

The graphic shows what a pile of money looks like; it does not show how anything was "lost" through either "waste" or "miss-management"[sic].

[Crackpot]

Where does all of that campaign money go?

Into the larger economy. Which is a good thing.

[Gob]

Oh allow me a little fun with Aspergers boy Sue...

[Gob]

Clinton to spend $37.92 for every vote in $2.5b campaign

[wesw]

well you said a gobful, gob. your assessment of our political fundraising is right on. a big waste of time and money. the airwaves supposedly belong to the public, so why do we not open them to our representatives during elections? money. why do we need insurance companies? money. they don t help the doctor or the patient, just the shareholders. parasites on society.

sue, there were problems with money long before the citizens united decision. I noticed your omission of the unions in your list of election buyers as well.