Comments on: Game over? Billionaire elites now blatantly rule American politics

By: Super PAC money exposes myth of ‘democratic’ politics | Scholars and Rogues

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:11:01 +0000

[...] on the role of super PACs in the presidential campaigns. But as I wrote more than two years ago, billionaires rule politics beyond presidential campaigns. Think Bloomberg for mayor. Think Whitman for [...]

By: Scholars and Rogues » Will Mort join Mike and Meg in billionaire politics?

Scholars and Rogues » Will Mort join Mike and Meg in billionaire politics? — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:06:08 +0000

[...] Zuckerman, that’s a financial hiccup. He’d easily be able to follow the examples of fellow billionaires Bloomberg and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, former eBay CEO. Bloomberg spent only [...]

By: Scholars and Rogues » $45 billion: a sour-tasting decade of out-of-control political spending

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:48:35 +0000

[...] the amounts of money spent to legally attain and maintain political power grow to such amounts that billionaires now spend tens of millions of dollars to finance their own campaigns. Modern elections trivialize issues and maximize dependence on name recognition. That costs money, [...]

By: fikshun

fikshun — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:27:15 +0000

@ jeff watson: i would agree with you that America hasn’t been destroyed, but it’s not where it should be either. The mail still gets delivered but consumers’ demand for “free shipping” from their vendors has their vendors pressuring the USPS into an ever smaller corner. They’re currently contemplating an end to Saturday service. When the hell could I get packages mailed were it not for Saturday service? I work for a living. Crops are still being planted, but there’s a hornet’s nest there. Public projects? How about that bridge in Minneapolis? Face it, our nation has been robbing Peter to pay Paul for decades (and I don’t mean that in a partisan sense, both parties have been doing it). Public projects aren’t “stilll” being constructed. Things have just finally gotten bad enough that we’re getting back to them. If you consider the privilege of not falling into a river every time you cross a bridge “crony protection”, then keep slurping up the crap that Rush Limbaugh serves you.

As for the “far more insidious”, please stop scaring us, Cassandra! What, oh what, is that horrible future on the horizon? If you say “national debt”, be prepared to dig up Reagan’s corpse and reanimate him: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/zombie_reagan_raised_from_grave

The right has done 10 times the damage to put us in that hole as the left. While I do think Obama should turn the money faucet off now, the reality is that cleaning up after Bush/Cheney’s 8-year “yee-haw” bender was going to be costly, no matter who inherited it.

By: Clay Barham

Clay Barham — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:03:13 +0000

THE TAX BILL
A tax bill is a life-altering event for someone. The money flows from taxpayers to tax eaters. To understand taxes, we must know who pays and who receives. Ordinary people pay the tax bill, directly or indirectly. No one is immune from a tax, even if they do not pay it from their own pocket. The money leaves the community none the less. Who gets the money? Those employed by the taxing source and the special interests to be rewarded for political support get the money. We can look at it like food. Some lose food and do with less and less nourishment, while others are able to eat well off the backs of the taxpayers. However, all of this transfer of wealth affects behavior. That’s where the rubber hits the road. If the one paying is discouraged from earning more, from which taxes come, the tax-take diminishes and must be replaced from other sources. The behavior of recipients is also affected, in that their appetites are encouraged to take even more. So, then, how should the money be used? Government has two roles it can assume. In America, the role was once to prevent injustice, which would be to protect citizens, and nothing more. For the Obama America, government’s role is to provide justice as defined from moment to moment to select interests. In this latter case, there is never an end to the need for more and more money, and the taxpayer is doomed. Claysamerica.com

By: jeff watson

jeff watson — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:25:29 +0000

@ckbsh2u I have seen no evidence that America has been destroyed. The mail still gets delivered, crops are still being planted, public projects are still being constructed, the cops still patrol the street and the firemen still show up if you call. This country is still going on, and I suspect we’ll muddle through this socialist (crony protection) phase of the current administration. There’s something far more insidious on the horizon that I’m really surprised that the writers on this blog haven’t addressed yet.

By: Oooga Boooga

Oooga Boooga — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:00:28 +0000

We’re so fucked.

By: Lex

Lex — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:11:36 +0000

Some of the post, elected official lobbying gigs should be taken care of by campaign finance reform, as that would erode the power of lobbyists. If you can’t dispense millions, i’d imagine that being a lobbyist would be a lot less appealing…

By: fikshun

fikshun — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:48:44 +0000

Not that I approve of billionaires electing themselves to office this way, but at least there’s some transparency with regards to their agenda. They can spend money on name recognition, but that’s not all good if they’re viewed as robber barons.

While I find this troubling, I’m more troubled by the relatively “poor” congress folks who take gigs at lobbying firms after their terms are up. There’s no way to vote against candidates who accept back room handshake deals that aren’t consummated until after it’s all over.

I could see legislation being enacted to prevent the former, but how do you prevent the latter?

By: JS OBrien

JS OBrien — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:13:50 +0000

I’m thinking we should just do what’s been done for many centuries and allow the wealthy to buy noble titles like “Sir,” “Earl,” and “Duke.” It would help fill the treasury and maybe divert them from trying to buy much the much-less-impressive titles of “Congressman” and “Senator.”

By: fckbsh2u

fckbsh2u — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:27:38 +0000

Sad, ain’t it? As of 2005 there were 2.6 million millionaires and 449 billionaires living in the US. There are 305 million people in the US. It would seem then that .008% of the country is governing the rest of us. So much for government of the people for the people by the people. Conservatives have destroyed America.

By: Dr. Slammy

Dr. Slammy — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:49:32 +0000

In pt 2 of my series I’m going to talk about the difference between a performance elite and a privilege elite. Thanks for getting us off to a running start….

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:37:07 +0000

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This post was mentioned on Reddit by srpr: The multiple millions of their own money billionaires spend on their political campaigns represent seemingly staggering amounts. But viewed in the rarified context of the very wealthy, the amounts are mere pet…