Democracy, or rule by the wealthiest interests?
Governance is defined by who controls political power. A plutocracy is "rule by the wealthiest interests"; a kleptocracy is rule by "corrupt self-interested officials." This file measures both against the American record, item by item.
Massive concentrations of wealth exploiting the two-party aristocracy.
The 2016 cycle, in dollars.
| $3.4B | spent by the two presidential campaigns in 2016, plus $1.2 billion in "dark money" and $1.4 billion in "independent" money |
| $9.8B | spent once congressional campaigns are included |
| $3.7B | spent by the two parties' "Committees" |
| $10.2B | spent on 2016-cycle political advertising |
Who supplies it.
Corporations, banks, hybrid finance, private equity, and partisan oligarchs.
Behind them stands a metastasized, impenetrable web of donors, LLCs, and off-shore fronts: ownership and control hidden, layered, and laundered.
Caligula redux
Decadent, ostentatious displays worthy of a Roman bacchanalia: a $7 million Florida birthday party with live acrobats, camels, and elites. Yachts, jetliners, mansions, resorts, gold faucets.
What a seat at the table costs.
Dinner with a D-presidential candidate
| $353,400 | for two at dinner with the candidate and spouse; called "obscene" by Hollywood sponsor Clooney |
| 13× | the $52,000 annual income of the average American household |
| $15M | raised by two private dinners |
A speech by an R-surrogate, DJT Jr.
| $275,000 | spent by a public university for the speech; the presidential politician's son pockets $100,000 |
| $1,980 | the hotel bill, for one night |
| Zero | students or press allowed in; no recordings allowed |
The perpetual political money chase.
The 2020 R-presidential campaign launched the day after inauguration. The 2020 D-presidential hopefuls hit the Hamptons and the financiers in 2017.
Elected officials spend more time fundraising than legislating. They run campaign committees to pay each other's campaign committees, on year-round, 24/7 fundraising schedules.
The result is a bazaar to buy, sell, and barter access, influence, favors, and insider deals.
The campaign never ends.
Day 1 of a term is Day 1 of the next campaign. Governing happens in the time left over.
The registered lobby, and the one below the surface.
| $3.36B | spent by lobbyists in 2017 | Ctr. for Responsive Politics |
| 11,502 | lobbyists registered to spend it | Ctr. for Responsive Politics |
| 1.2M+ | "charities" and partisan "think tanks" that can also lobby, invisible below the allowed dollar thresholds |
Thousands more never register
Loopholes, law-firm cloaks, willful impunity, and no enforcement keep them off the books.
"Layered Lobbyist Laundering"
Pass-throughs, fronts, shells, and hidden clients move the influence. Bi-partisan hand-offs conceal clients, including foreign interests operating through U.S. subsidiaries.
A treacherous incursion of foreign influence.
Foreign money moves through deals and through both parties' donor and lobbyist conduits. From the public record, party by party:
- A D-Party lobbying firm fails to disclose its foreign-agent status; it works for the same Russian-backed clients as an R-Party lobbyist, convicted, and a former R-Party congressman, being pursued
- An R-Party White House official pleads guilty to hidden lobbying for Russia and Turkey
- A D-Party presidential campaign manager and White House staff chief takes Russian-backed cash and stocks
- An R-Party campaign manager is paid tens of millions by a Russian front
- An R-Party Cabinet officer holds ownership of a Cyprus bank whose directors run with international oligarchs and former CIA officials, with the president of the #1 German institution tied to Russian business, and bank loans flowing to the R-Party presidential candidate's family politicos
- A Mid-East nation says it helped finance a D-Party presidential race; the foreign government's press statement is immediately retracted and buried
- A D-Party VP's son serves as director of a Cyprus-based Ukrainian energy firm
- An R-Party Cabinet officer's son attends a secret island meeting with a Russian cut-out; his mercenary private army is later hired by a Mid-East nation
The public has already rendered its verdict.
Both parties are underwater with the voters, and independents now outnumber either one. The last file in this series shows the charts.