Voting to Make it Worse - Thomas Frank

Election Roundtable: Breaking Down the Result

Peddling politics in America

Midterm contributions soar to record levels in 2010, a sign that the US campaign finance system is tainted as ever.

Our country is in economic distress. Millions are out of work, and cutbacks in public services are pervasive at the city and state levels.

The 'great recession' is deep and could go deeper. Most families are tightening their belts and in some cases are at breaking point because their benefits have run out.

Money is hard to find, perhaps, for the people but, curiously, not for their political representatives - nominal public servants. Despite the fact that popularity for politicians, especially members of Congress, is at an all-time low, campaign contributions are at an all time high.

The Washington Post reports that House and Senate candidates are "on their way to surpassing $2 billion in spending for the first time … the equivalent of about $4 million for every congressional seat up for grabs".

Report: Election Spending to Hit Record $4B

A new report says spending for next week’s elections will break the previous record for a midterm vote by around $1 billion. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, total spending could reach as much as $4 billion this year. The report also says right-wing groups are spending more than double on advertisements than liberal organizations.

...compared to GDP of entries countries?

How much would it cost to give children re-hydration packets to prevent diarrhea deaths? See hunger durty and ecology

The Narcissism of the Neurotic : The End of the Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games over, we can now return to those of everyday Indian life. For all the protests, though, there was nothing in the corruption that marked the Games that does not permeate every town and city, all the time. Just that, in these Games, it got concentrated in one very high-profile event, under constant public and media gaze. Much of the agonizing over what was routine corruption  was occasioned by “what the world will think of us.” For ‘world' read Western world. We care little about what Tuvalu or Tonga or Papua New Guinea think of us.

The corruption — or its public manifestation — hurt us because it messed with our self-image and our need to be accepted as special by the Western elite, in every way, even at sports. After all, we are knocking at the door of the G-8. Else, there were no surprises in the corruption. Shocking, yes. Surprising, no. Dirty contracts handed out to sleazy builders? That's business as usual in Mumbai, any day in the past three decades. Most of the city's 36 MLAs are builders or contractors, which is its own comment.

The Koch Empire and Americans for Prosperity: More Tentacles Surface at Rightwing Front Group

Lily Tomlin said it best: “No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up.” Despite two solid years of progressive media tracking the billionaire Koch brothers’ funding of right wing front groups, new details have emerged which show a more sophisticated and ominous network than previously understood.

One of the key organizations funded by a Koch-controlled foundation is Americans for Prosperity (AFP).  While it has been widely documented and publicized that the group is orchestrating the Tea Party, AFP is also a veritable smorgasbord of other “grassroots” personalities.  The AFP or the AFP Foundation have  spawned the following identities: 

DefendingtheDream.org (August 27-28 D.C. summit for right wing strategizing and rally);

SayNoCapandTrade.org (kill tax on production of greenhouse gases);

NoInternetTakeover.com (attacks on the Federal Communications Commission);

SickofSpending.com (“…how to recruit, educate, organize, and mobilize fed up Americans to stop the radical left-wing agenda…”);

RegulationReality.com (“…educate citizens about the EPA’s attempt to implement radical global warming regulations…”);

NovemberIsComing.com (phone bank; go door to door to beat back those liberals);

TaxCutsForAll.com (don’t raise taxes on the rich);

SpendingCrisis.org (shrink the Federal government);

CaliforniaSoS.com (cut spending in California);

United4NoOn4.com (kill Amendment 4 in Florida that would give voters more say in local legislative decisions; an ironic position for people who say they want to promote more liberty).

US to Announce $2 Billion in Military Aid for Pakistan

The Obama administration is expected to announce a $2 billion military package for Pakistan when the US and Pakistan hold high-level talks later this week. Pakistan’s military will use the money to buy US-made helicopters, weapons systems and equipment to intercept communications. The aid also includes more counterinsurgency assistance and a program that will allow members of Pakistan’s military to study at American war colleges. Meanwhile, Pakistanis continue to be devastated by the floods that have swept across Pakistan affecting nearly 20 million people. The UN’s $2 billion aid appeal for the floods, which was launched nearly a month ago, remains only 34 percent funded.

The more you have ($) the more you get (votes)

GOP Gains Fundraising Advantage Ahead of Midterm Election

Newly disclosed campaign records show Republicans have benefited from a surge in campaign donations in recent months. The Wall Street Journalreports the Republican candidates in the ten closest Senate races raised $41 million in the third quarter, nearly three times as much as their Democratic candidate opponents. The difference was most striking in Nevada, where Republican Sharron Angle raised $14 million, seven times as much as her opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Meanwhile, the Center for Responsive Politics reports outside groups, including some funded by secret donors, have spent $167 million so far in the 2010 election cycle. That’s up from about $70 million four years ago. A recent study of TV ad buys in September and early October found that outside groups were spending nine times as much on Republicans as Democrats

Former Corporate CEOs-Turned Politicians Spend Big In 2010 Races

JULIET WILLIAMS | 08/ 9/10 06:18 AM | 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In the midst of one of the worst recessions in decades, a host of former corporate leaders are spending millions in their quest for elective office, using their personal wealth to push past the political machinery and their own lack of experience.

In California, billionaire former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman has bankrolled more than $91 million of the nearly $100 million her Republican quest for governor has cost so far. Her outsized spending has bought her some of the nation's best-known GOP strategists and chartered planes offering "white glove service." It's also helped her target traditionally Democratic voters.

Peddling Relief, Firms Put Debtors in Deeper Hole

By PETER S. GOODMAN

PALM BEACH, Fla. — For the companies that promise relief to Americans confronting swelling credit card balances, these are days of lucrative opportunity.

So lucrative, that an industry trade association, the United States Organizations for Bankruptcy Alternatives, recently convened here, in the oceanfront confines of the Four Seasons Resort, to forge deals and plot strategy.

At a well-lubricated evening reception, a steel drum band played Bob Marley songs as hostesses in skimpy dresses draped leis around the necks of arriving entrepreneurs, some with deep tans.

The debt settlement industry can afford some extravagance. The long recession has delivered an abundance of customers — debt-saturated Americans, suffering lost jobs and income, sliding toward bankruptcy. The settlement companies typically harvest fees reaching 15 to 20 percent of the credit card balances carried by their customers, and they tend to collect upfront, regardless of whether a customer’s debt is actually reduced.

State attorneys general from New York to California and consumer watchdogs like the Better Business Bureau say the industry’s proceeds come at the direct expense of financially troubled Americans who are being fleeced of their last dollars with dubious promises.