When you hear about some billionaire putting forward $100k or even $100 million into some candidate’s SuperPAC … you need to remember what that is – it’s an investment.  These billionaires are not donating money; not all…a donation would be the expectation that you lose that money never to be seen again.  These billionaires are INVESTING into these candidates.  They understand that if more “conservatives” are elected … that means they won’t have to worry about stronger laws for middle class workers that their corporations will have to pay.  It means that they’ll get lower tax rates specifically targeted to them paid for by huge cuts to important programs like unemployment benefits, Pell grants, privatizing Medicare etc.

These billionaires are INVESTING into these candidates just like they would into any corporations stock.  And just like at a corporation – the person who owns the most shares … has the largest vote.  That’s how democracy works in a corporation and that’s why they want America to run like a corporation.

The Koch Brothers are increasing their investments in the GOP; they’re now planning on spending more than the $395 million goal they originally set.  The Koch Brothers and their silent partners have been thus far pleased with the return on investment provided by the Republican party … and are hopeful that the real money will start to flow in if they’re able to put the Republican party back in power.  In addition to controlling think tanks, lobbying groups and other “grassroots” organizations … they’ve created a database of likely voters to ensure Americans vote properly.

Politico writes about in a must read story HERE:

Many of the dozens of rich conservative invitees are expected to write huge checks to a pool of cash distributed among Koch-approved groups, potentially boosting the Kochs’ 2012 spending plan beyond their historic $395 million goal. And it’s also a chance for the Kochs to show off their increasingly robust political machine, including a growing voter database project called Themis that played a major role in conservatives’ recent efforts in Wisconsin and in which POLITICO has learned Koch operatives have discussed investing $20 million.

But most of the cash raised at the Koch summits — typically in pledge sessions on the last day of the summit that have a revival-like feel — goes to nonprofit groups that do not disclose their donors. And the groups represented at recent conferences provide some hints as to the recipients. According to the documents reviewed by POLITICO and interviews, there are think tanks such as The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and The Federalist Society, as well as advocacy groups including the 60 Plus Association, National Right to Work, the Club for Growth and Americans for Prosperity.

The Kochs raised more than $150 million at their winter conference this year in Indian Wells, Calif., on top of $49 million at a summit a year earlier in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

There was one summit in between, in Beaver Creek, Colo., and even if donors only matched the lower tally, that would put the Koch network at about $250 million raised for the cycle. That means they’re within striking distance of their $395 million goal, and could exceed it, given that sources said interest in the donor network has only increased since Democrats up to and including President Barack Obama have taken to targeting the Kochs as examples of the corrupting influence of big money in politics.

Meanwhile – Casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson has already committed to invest $71 million into various Republicans including a large investment into Mitt Romney’s campaign HERE; if Mitt Romney and other Republicans win – this could be a huge boon for his business giving him a tremendous return on investment:

After weeks of speculation about when Adelson would help Romney-affiliated super PAC Restore Our Future, Adelson and his wife came through this week with a $10 million cash infusion, making the casino mogul the largest backer of the independent committee, which prior to his contribution had raised over $50 million.

In late May, Romney met with Adelson privately when the candidate was in Las Vegas to attend a fundraiser hosted by real estate mogul Donald Trump.

Although the latest big donation to the Romney super PAC is public information (the group is required to report its funding to the Federal Election Commission), Adelson has indicated to GOP colleagues that he plans to give the lion’s share of his contributions to nonprofits like Crossroads GPS, which can legally keep donations secret because they’re classified by the IRS as social welfare organizations.

Bill Moyers shares his thoughts about the plutocrats HERE:

These are the people who are helping to fund what the journalist Joe Hagan describes as a “tsunami of slime.” Even as they and their chosen candidates are afforded respectability in the value-free world of plutocracy, they can hide the fingerprints they leave on the bleeding corpse of democracy in part because each super PAC comes with that extra special something every politician craves: plausible deniability. When one of their ads says something nasty and deceitful about an opponent — when it slanders and lies — the pol can shrug and say: “Not my doing. It’s the super PAC that’s slinging the mud, not me.”

And that’s how the wealthy one percent does its dirty business. They are, by the way, as we were reminded by CNN’s Charles Riley in his report, “Can 46 Rich Dudes Buy an Election?” almost all men, mostly white, “and so far, the vast majority of their contributions have been made to conservative groups.”  They want to own this election.  So if there are any of you left out there with millions to burn, better buy your candidate now, while supplies last.

Meanwhile – the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is concerned that Republicans may start to capitulate on requiring transparency of donations HERE:

He’s right to be worried. In Massachusetts, Sen. Scott Brown (R) and Elizabeth Warren have quashed outside ads.

And on PBS’ Newshour Thursday evening, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — once a campaign finance reform champion — admitted, “maybe in a round-about way, foreign money is coming into an American campaign, political campaigns. … [A]gain, we need a level playing field and we need to go back to the realization that Teddy Roosevelt had that we have to have a limit on the flow of money and that corporations are not people. That’s why we have different laws that govern corporations than govern individual citizens. And so to say that corporations are people, again, flies in the face of all the traditional Supreme Court decisions that we have made — that have been made in the past.”

Comments

comments