Corporations now spend more lobbying Congress than taxpayers spend funding Congress
Corporations now spend about $2.6 billion a year on reported lobbying expenditures – more than the $2 billion we spend to fund the House ($1.16 billion) and Senate ($820 million).
Those numbers come from political scientist Lee Drutman, author of the book The Business of America Is Lobbying, who notes, over email, that they've fallen slightly out of date. In 2014 the House's operating budget was $1.18 billion, and the Senate's operating budget was $860 million. That pays for, among other things, all congressional staff. Add in the funds for the Congressional Budget Office and the Congressional Research Service — the two most important agencies meant to inform members of Congress about the issues corporate America is lobbying them on — and you've added another $150 million to the tab.
Which is to say, Drutman's point stands: businesses* are spending more money lobbying the House and Senate than taxpayers are spending running the House and Senate and informing its members.
http://www.vox.com/2015/4/20/8455235/congress-lobbying-money-statistic
correct and you will probably vote for a presidential candidate that has also been bought by the corporations.
Presidential candidates tend to be more financed by billionaires:
It's Not the 1 Percent Controlling Politics. It's the 0.01 Percent.
...about 1,200 Americans control more than 40 percent of election contributions. Notably, between 2010 and 2012, the total share of giving by these donors jumped more than 10 percentage points. That shift is likely the direct result of the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, which struck down decades of fundraising limits and kicked off the super-PAC era. And this data only includes publicly disclosed donations, not dark money, which almost certainly means that the megadonors' actual share of total political spending is even higher.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2015/04/one-percent-campaign-giving
I think billionaires are corporations.
Quote from: fsquid on April 23, 2015, 04:34:04 PM
I think billionaires are corporations.
(http://onepercentpac.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/romney-12.jpg)
This is why anybody with any sense should vote for Bernie Sanders. He doesn't speak with a forked tongue ... as is the case with most of our politicians.
"Crédit Mobilier of America scandal" on @Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cr%C3%A9dit_Mobilier_of_America_scandal?wprov=sfia1
This isnt a recent thing. Its been happening for years.
Quote from: spuwho on May 06, 2015, 10:25:12 AM
This isnt a recent thing. Its been happening for years.
The difference is the vast sums being spent today.