Have you heard of William Dore, Foster Friess, Sheldon Adelson, Harold Simmons, Peter Thiel, or Bruce Kovner? If not, let me introduce them to you. They're running for the Republican nomination for president.
I know, I know. You think Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney are running. They are -- but only because the people listed in the first paragraph have given them huge sums of money to do so. In a sense, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, and Romney are the fronts. Dore et al. are the real investors.
According to January's Federal Election Commission report, William Dore and Foster Friess supplied more than three-fourths of the $2.1 million raked in by Rick Santorum's super PAC in January. Dore, president of the Dore Energy Corporation in Lake Charles, Louisiana, gave $1 million; Freis, a fund manager based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, gave $669,000 (he had given the Santorum super PAC $331,000 last year, bringing Freis's total to $1 million).
Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam provided $10 million of the $11 million that went into Gingrich's super PAC in January. Adelson is chairman of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Texas billionaire Harold Simmons donated $500,000.
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, provided $1.7 million of the $2.4 million raised by Ron Paul's super PAC in January.
Mitt Romney's super PAC raised $6.6 million last month -- almost all from just forty donors. Bruce Kovner, co-founder of the New York-based hedge fund Caxton Associates, gave $500,000, as did two others. David Tepper of Appaloosa Management gave $375,000. J.W. Marriott and Richard Marriott gave a total of $500,000. Julian Robertson, co-founder of hedge fund Tiger Management, gave $250,0000. Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman gave $100,000.
Bottom line: Whoever emerges as the GOP standard-bearer will be deeply indebted to a handful of people, each of whom will expect a good return on their investment.
And this is just the beginning. We haven't even come to the general election.
Non-profit political fronts like "Crossroads GPS," founded by Republican political guru Karl Rove, are already gathering hundreds of millions of dollars from big corporations and a few wealthy individuals like billionaire oil and petrochemical moguls David and Charles Koch. The public will never know who or what corporation gave what because, under IRS regulations, such non-profit "social welfare organizations" aren't required to disclose the names of those who contributed to them.
Before 2010, federal campaign law and Federal Election Commission regulations limited to $5,000 per year the amount an individual could give to a PAC making independent expenditures in federal elections. This individual contribution limit that was declared unconstitutional by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in a case based on the Supreme Court's grotesque decision at the start of 2010, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.
Now, the limits are gone. And this comes precisely at a time when an almost unprecedented share of the nation's income and wealth is accumulating at the top.
Never before in the history of our Republic have so few spent so much to influence the votes of so many.
Robert Reich is the author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future, now in bookstores. This post originally appeared at RobertReich.org.
Follow Robert Reich on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RBReich
By the way, the ACLU agrees with me and supported the Citizen's United decision. That should make you stop and think.
It's sad that you don't have enough respect for other people's opinions that you think I have to be paid to express them, instead of being genuine. But that's not surprising.
Well, except . . . the Too Big To Fail Banks. Yeah, the ones he just let off of the biggest fraud in history with a slap on the wrist and a kiss on the cheek.
Whew! What a relief! At least one candidate for President is completely and totally free of any influence whatsoever from any campaign contributor.
I think it is nice that Reich is so loyal to the Axelrod/Media Matters/Journolist agitprop machine. Unlike some traitor I could mention, like HuffPo, for example (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/obama-super-pac_n_1294614.html)
The engineering goes far beyond merely taxes. They want to eliminate the public school system and have control over all legislation. For example, privately run prisons don't have to follow state laws, not even to report escapes or deaths in custody. They can be quite profitable if they are under staffed and inmates are under fed, not getting health issues addressed. It goes on and on. And not in a good way.
Since Reagan got elected, the neocons have been insinuating themselves into local and state governments...and school boards...from the grassroots up so that they can get their agendas passed...small government...privatization of federal and state run facilities...unregulated capitalism...onerous religious and idealistic laws...schools that teach creationism and climate warming denialism...and on and on.
After Obama, Clinton could run...and there's Warren...both smart and popular. I don't think that anyone from the neocon party would have a chance to beat either...and if that happens, and I never see another republican neocon in office again, it will be OK with me!
The lesson of Germany is a good one. Back in 2000, the Germans were facing an economic rebalancing not unlike what the U.S. is experiencing. East and West Germany had unified, creating a huge wealth gap and high unemployment at a time when German jobs were moving to central Europe.
CEOs sat down with labor leaders as partners; union reps sit on management boards in Germany. The government offered firms temporary subsidies to forestall outsourcing. Corporate leaders worked with educators to churn out a labor force with the right skills.
It worked. Germany has not only higher levels of growth but also lower levels of unemployment.
The Republican “Jobs” program during this time?
46,000 factories went overseas during the bush years. The states lost this tax base. It was done intentionally by the right. (google Bains Capital + Romney)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001854367_bushecon10.html
2004 President's Economic Report.
BUSH: SENDING JOBS OVERSEAS HELPS U.S
February 10, 2004
WASHINGTON — Movement of American factory jobs and white-collar work to other countries is part of positive transformation that will enrich the U.S. economy over time, even if short-term pain and dislocation, Bush administration
Republican Golden Rule
"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?
"The Republican philosophy
To hell with principle; what matters is power, and that we have it, and that they do not." - Pat Buchanan
You're probably one of those people who claims not to be influenced by campaign ads and to make your decisions based strictly on your own personal research on candidates and issues -- yet your views and votes miraculously coincide with the latest talking points from "Americans for Prosperity" or some other corporate-funded front group.
Obama 2012