Where the Money Really Goes

According to a report on NPR,

It might be hard to believe after the political spend-a-thon for the 2008 presidential contest, but this year's elections are on track to set a record for campaign spending.

In the past, new high watermarks for campaign spending followed a sort of zig-zag pattern: There was a constantly rising sum for each presidential election and a smaller, also constantly rising sum for less costly midterm elections.

This year, there's no zig-zag.

Interestingly enough, "donations to nearly every type of charity faltered in 2008, as contributions declined by 5.7 percent last year after adjustment for inflation, according to the new edition of Giving USA." In other words, while political expenditures went way up, contributions to organizations that actually HELP people fell.

Since all indications are that political expenditures in 2010 will eclipse the spending craze of 2008, don't be surprised at all if we find out next year that charitable donations have fallen even further!

And why are political contributions going through the roof in this bona fide economic downturn?

Fueling it [he says] is corporate money — dollars liberated by the Supreme Court when it ruled that corporations and unions can be unrestrained in their campaign spending.

Cassino says corporate funds probably account for a 10 percent jump in advertising.

And of course, those advertisements are almost always negative.

"The unwritten charter of these groups is to really be disruptive and try to go in there and turn a race on its head — or put a candidate on the defense," says Evan Tracey, president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, which tracks political advertising. "And by that nature, most of those ads that they're gonna run this fall are gonna be negative ads."...

A lot of people are pointing to the grassroots Tea Party movement as the impetus for political change in the air. However, as many recent articles have underscored, that movement is being funded by several relatively secret major donors.

What the anticipated record spending in this year's campaign cycle tells me is that the economic downturn only is effecting one segment of society -- the general public. If it was truly affecting everyone across the board, then big corporations and the wealthy elite wouldn't have so much money to throw around.

Let's just watch which politicians are bought and sold this year. As the sun sets on Election Day 2010, we will end up with the "best government" money can buy!