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Government for the wealthy only and in many hope is dead
And for the poor of the Country only tough times ahead
And for those on low incomes life has never been so tough
And more becoming homeless and having to live rough
And even poverty does come of varying degrees
In a Human World of millions of refugees
The Stateless and Homeless to be found everywhere
In every village, town and city of the big World out there
In a World where poverty seems the in thing
The praises of billionaires idiots do sing
Suppose the rank and file system will always remain
In a World where many do lose for a few for to gain
For everyone it does seem there is a pigeon hole
From the monarchs and presidents to those on the dole.

Monday, November 28, 2016

Topic(s) of this poem: government

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Government For The Wealthy Only - Government For The Wealthy Only Poem by Francis Duggan

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Read Government For The Wealthy Only poem by Francis Duggan written. Government For The Wealthy Only poem is from Francis Duggan poems. Government For The Wealthy Only poem summary, analysis and comments.

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Oligarchs in America: How do the rich impact our politics? | USA TODAY

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Pet Shop Boys - Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) (Version 2) (HD)

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Running for president of the United States is an expensive proposition. In the 2012 presidential campaign, incumbent Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney each spent over $1 billion, in what was the most expensive presidential election ever at the time, with Obama winning a second term. In 2016, the overall cost of the White House race-spending by all the candidates-totaled under $2.4 billion that year (versus 2012's total spending of $2.6 billion). However, the 2020 election blew all previous spending records away. In total, the election cost an unprecedented $14 billion, making it twice as expensive as the previous presidential election cycle.

American citizens of every political persuasion may justifiably wonder where all that money comes from and how it's spent. Let's have a look.

A major source of campaign financing is the super PAC, short for special political action committee.

A Supreme Court decision in the 2010 case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission allowed these organizations to spend unlimited amounts of money on their preferred candidate. They are not required to fully disclose the names of their contributors, and they are prohibited by the law from coordinating their political activities with their candidate of choice. The money spent by super PACs is part of a presidential campaign, although it technically does not represent money spent by the candidate.

According to Open Secrets, as of May 23, 2023, 2,476 groups organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $2,737,855,088 and total independent expenditures of $1,365,427,889 in the 2019-2020 cycle.

Fundraising

According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and reports from the candidates and media, money comes from a variety of sources, including large donors, small donors, and organizational donations.

During the 2016 election, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton raised about $563 million and the super PAC Priorities USA Action raised over $192 million for her. Accoridng to Open Secrets, approximately 53% of Clinton's raised funds were large individual contributions. Bernie Sanders, who refused the support of super PACs, raised close to $230 million, and 58% of it had come from small individual contributions.

On the other end of the political aisle, Republican Ted Cruz raised $89.5 million himself and over $53 million was donated to super PACs that supported him. During the 2016 election, Donald Trump was largely self-funded, with 77% of his campaign funds coming from loans he had taken out; the super PACs in his favor raised a relatively paltry $71 million.

Trump began raising money for his 2020 campaign shortly after he was elected. While some experts predicted that it would be impossible for any candidate to out-raise him, Joe Biden's campaign beat fundraising records and ended up surpassing the Trump campaign's fundraising haul during the final months of the election cycle.

In 2020, Biden raised approximately $1,044,187,828 in candidate committee money and $580,113,800 in outside money in getting elected, while Trump raised approximately $773,954,550 in candidate committee money and $313,954,719 in outside money in defeat. (During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump is said to have received free media attention valued at about $5 billion.)

How Money Is Spent

According to OpenSecrets.org, a release of data by the FEC showed that in 2020, 56.1% (or $855.1 trillion) of all donations were spent on media advertisements, with fundraising for donations coming in at 10.2%. Campaign expenses such as consulting, events, and surveys make up 8.6%, and 8.1% went toward salaries. Roughly 6.8% of costs went toward miscellaneous expenses, 6.2% went for administrative costs, and nearly 4% for strategy and research.

Can Presidential Candidates Fund Their Own Campaigns?

Who Is Not Allowed to Contribute Funds to a Political Campaign?

What's the Maximum an Individual Can Give to a Presidential Campaign?

The Bottom Line

To provide the necessary millions required to run for president, candidates draw funding from donors large and small and rely on super PACs to join the effort through advertising and other political activities. The bulk of the campaign funds collected are spent on media-print, broadcast, and Internet advertising. But having a lot of money is no guarantee of a successful run for the presidency, either in the primary races or after the party candidates have been nominated.

Detailed monthly data on campaign spending is filed by both major-party candidates with the FEC. Its comprehensive reports on campaign spending are available online to the public.

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Where Presidential Candidates Get Campaign Funding

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American citizens of every political persuasion may justifiably wonder where all that money comes from and how it's spent.