From 158 families, half the cash for the 2016 race

gwb-trading · Oct 11, 2015

From 158 families, half the cash for the 2016 race
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...sidential-election-super-pac-donors.html?_r=2

Your "democracy" is bought and paid for.

futurecurrents · Oct 11, 2015

And note that most of that goes to the Republicans due to a law put in place by conservatives for the GOP.

Wallet · Oct 11, 2015

futurecurrents said:
And note that most of that goes to the Republicans due to a law put in place by conservatives for the GOP.

It's a drop in the bucket compared to the contributions given to Democrats by Unions.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corne...-campaign-donors-are-unions-veronique-de-rugy

futurecurrents · Oct 11, 2015

Wallet said:
It's a drop in the bucket compared to the contributions given to Democrats by Unions.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corne...-campaign-donors-are-unions-veronique-de-rugy

The total contributions of the top twenty five of all donors since 1989 equals 993 million.

The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign.

gwb-trading · Oct 11, 2015

futurecurrents said:
The total contributions of the top twenty five of all donors since 1989 equals 993 million.

The political network overseen by the conservative billionaires Charles G. and David H. Koch plans to spend close to $900 million on the 2016 campaign.

Where do you get these figures from? Considering that the Koch brothers are not in the top 10 spenders over the past decade - Soros and others rank well above them.

Note I am questioning the claim of $993 million for the top 25 donors - not the $900 million being spent by the Koch brothers for 2016.

futurecurrents · Oct 11, 2015

gwb-trading said:
Where do you get these figures from? Considering that the Koch brothers are not in the top 10 spenders over the past decade - Soros and others rank well above them.

Note I am questioning the claim of $993 million for the top 25 donors - not the $900 million being spent by the Koch brothers for 2016.

It's from your link.

gwb-trading · Oct 11, 2015

futurecurrents said:
It's from your link.

Thank you for pointing that out... I am re-reading it now.

gwb-trading · Oct 11, 2015

Sorry - I am not finding "top twenty five of all donors since 1989 equals 993 million" anywhere in the article from the NYT I posted.. I believe the figures from Open Secrets and other sites that track donations do not support this.

http://mercatus.org/publication/top-25-political-donations-1989-2014

Some of the top donors in that time period appear to be unions.

Any way you look at it however.... money in politics is out of control. Citizens United opened the flood gates for more unaccountable money and needs to be revoked via legislation.

futurecurrents · Oct 11, 2015

gwb-trading said:
Sorry - I am not finding "top twenty five of all donors since 1989 equals 993 million" anywhere in the article from the NYT I posted.. I believe the figures from Open Secrets and other sites that track donations do not support this.

http://mercatus.org/publication/top-25-political-donations-1989-2014

Some of the top donors in that time period appear to be unions.

Any way you look at it however.... money in politics is out of control. Citizens United opened the flood gates for more unaccountable money and needs to be revoked via legislation.

In the middle of the circle chart...total contributions....993 million

Tsing Tao · Oct 12, 2015

gwb-trading said:
Any way you look at it however.... money in politics is out of control. Citizens United opened the flood gates for more unaccountable money and needs to be revoked via legislation.

So, just to clarify, you're hoping that politicians will legislate to remove money from their pockets, is that right?