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Comment on YSK that 158 families made up 50% of all US Presidential Campaign Spending

ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

Yes, and so what? $5.5 billion was spent on the 2024 presidential election. That’s very little. There are individuals capable of spending more than that. So if spending more could actually affect the outcome in a significant way, why wasn’t much more spent? Surely the difference between Harris and Trump is worth more than just $5.5 billion to some group. My conclusion is that while some amount of money is necessary to run a campaign, even the relatively small amount being spent now is so far past the point of diminishing returns that spending more isn’t worth it even to billionaires who could easily do so and care a lot about the outcome.

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Pringles@sopuli.xyz ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I think you have lost all sense of how much a billion is from it being thrown around so much. 5.5 billion is an enormous sum of money. Think of how much 1 million is, then imagine spending that 5500 times. It’s an obscene amount. Sure, some people have more wealth than that, but it’s still an absurdly large amount.

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- whostosay@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  OPs username checks out
  
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stickly@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
This is bad because it means if you want to run for office, your campaign is mostly floated by this tiny group of people. $5.5 billion sounds small until you realize that breaks out into millions of dollars for any individual. Unless you’re rich enough to ante up (and repeat that every election cycle), you’ll never play the game.

More isn’t spent because it doesn’t need to be, not because it isn’t effective. The policy goals of the 0.01% are basically in lock step, why would they bid against each other? Regardless of the raw number, the average politician has to equally weigh their representation between the needs of the 0.01% and the 99.99%.

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- ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  The policy goals of the 0.01% are basically in lock step, why would they bid against each other?
  
  The Democrats and the Republicans both raise money.
  
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  - stickly@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It’s not uncommon for a donor to support both candidates because whoever wins will have a debt. Like you said this is peanuts to them.
    
    The other factor is non-monetary support. A $1 billion check to a candidate’s campaign fund isn’t as effecient as a $100 million donation and $900 million spent blasting propaganda across your personal media empire.
    
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