Tagged: Facebook

A fascinating lesson in how power and money works in the western world. Plus, I love the visualizations: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/11/us/politics/2016-presidential-election-super-pac-donors.html?_r=0

These are the people who don't want you to think too much about your options as a consumer, since that could potentially make a dent in their money-making machines.

"They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters."

"Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, a New York Times investigation found. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago."

"The Chicago hedge fund billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin, for example, earns about $68.5 million a month after taxes, according to court filings made by his wife in their divorce. He has given a total of $300,000 to groups backing Republican presidential candidates. That is a huge sum on its face, yet is the equivalent of only $21.17 for a typical American household, according to Congressional Budget Office data on after-tax income."