Money & Politics

The amount of money floating into the political system has been discussed by many commentators before.  Everybody knows about it but can do nothing.  So, it gets ignored.

However, the numbers continue to grow, and the political system becomes more divided because of the money influence. 

This is a Major Issue.  The system needs a Reform to get money out of politics.

Let’s look at the spend numbers for Federal campaigns (Democrat and Republican combined) for President, House of Representatives, and Senate:

2020 Total  …………  $ 7.44 Billion

That is a tremendous amount of money donated to the campaigns.

For Perspective, of the 500 companies in the S&P index of largest corporations, 475 companies make less than that amount in net profit per year.

So, Politics Is Big Business.  It would rank in the Top 25 of the S&P 500 for Cash Collected.

These are only the funds that are documented. 

What is not accounted for are the favors, inside tips, opportunities, travel, and “perks” that are given out.  There is no telling how much they are worth, but you can bet it amounts to a lot more than official campaign contributions.

This taint on government results in sub-optimized policies with laws and regulation targeted to “Special Interests.”  The legislative history is loaded with them. 

They have accumulated into a patchwork mess of unfairness and detriment to the Country.

This is the start of a series of reports on Money & Politics.  Cogport will provide specific cases to demonstrate the problems and recommend ways to overcome this cloud on the Federal Government. It won't be easy to change.

David Hollaender                           August 29, 2024

Cogport.com