Rich brat billionaires and giant transnational corporations have hijacked our political system. CNN is reporting that Shelly Adelson, the same man who dropped a cool $150 million during the 2012 election cycle to defeat President Obama, is now talking about spending tens of millions more in the 2014 midterm elections. According to CNN, sources inside the Republican Party have said that Adelson is prepared to make as much as a $100 million “investment” in the 2014 midterms, trying to help Republicans win back control of the Senate.
And make no mistake about it; when rich people or corporations put money into politics or politicians, it’s an investment, and they’re expecting a financial return, whether it be in lower taxes or fewer regulations. Adelson’s modern-day investment binge followed the 2010 Citizens United ruling that legalized it, so that back in 2012, Adelson planned to spend $100 million and ended up spending at least $150 million.
Meanwhile, as Shelly Adelson is corrupting our democracy with tens of millions of dollars in Chinese gambling cash, Wall Street bigwigs are doing the same thing. The Financial Times reports that Wall Street executives, like Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, are throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at the 2014 midterms too.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Griffin alone has given big bucks to five different Republicans in Senate battleground states, and has given at least $800,000 to various Republican groups. Oddly enough, it’s Griffin and his buddies in the finance industry who helped propel President Obama into office in 2008.