Reich: The GOP’s Big Investors
Democracy?:
The GOP’s Big Investors. by Robert Reich: Have you heard of William Dore, Foster Friess, Sheldon Adelson, Harold Simmons, Peter Thiel, or Bruce Kovner? If not, let me introduce them to you. They’re running for the Republican nomination for president.
I know, I know. You think Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney are running. They are – but only because the people listed in the first paragraph have given them huge sums of money to do so. In a sense, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, and Romney are the fronts. ...According to January’s Federal Election Commission report, William Dore and Foster Friess supplied more than three-fourths of the $2.1 million raked in by Rick Santorum’s super PAC in January. ... Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam provided $10 million of the $11 million that went into Gingrich’s super PAC in January. ... Peter Thiel ... provided $1.7 million of the $2.4 million raised by Ron Paul’s super PAC in January. Mitt Romney’s super PAC raised $6.6 million last month – almost all from just forty donors. ...
Bottom line: Whoever emerges as the GOP standard-bearer will be deeply indebted to a handful of people, each of whom will expect a good return on their investment. And this is just the beginning. We haven’t even come to the general election. ...
Before 2010, federal campaign law and Federal Election Commission regulations limited to $5,000 per year the amount an individual could give to a PAC... This individual contribution limit that was declared unconstitutional... Now, the limits are gone. And this comes precisely at a time when an almost unprecedented share of the nation’s income and wealth is accumulating at the top.
Never before in the history of our Republic have so few spent so much to influence the votes of so many.
Posted by Mark Thoma on Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 12:21 AM in Economics, Politics |
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