I'd respect the hell out of Bloomberg if he came out and said "damn right I'm buying this election...because the rules are that messed up" followed by a comprehensive plan to forever get money out of our elections.
Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
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Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#302Why is it healthy for American democracy to have an oligarch purchase the U.S. Presidency like a shiny, new yacht?
The alternatives are worse. The choices: 1. purchase it with their own money 2. purchase it with money from bribes 3. blackmail party insiders for the nomination and support Using their own money is the cleanest and most honest way to do things.
You're missing a key alternative here which is, you know, asking voters to donate
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can keep calling it manipulation all you want. But I truly believe both HRC's message reached the voters and that Trump's message also reached the voters and they chose accordingly. Are you suggesting that their respective messages weren't heard? At no point did someone fail to deliver their message. HRC's message (to the extent that it could be parsed) just didn't click with a lot of people. Trump's did.
But by vote count, Clinton’s message clicked with more people than Trump’s did. That’s why he had to rely on the electoral college to “win” by negative-several-million votes.
Why dwell on an irrelevant number? It's not material to the presidential election. At all. There is no reason the mass media should even report it. It's not germane to the outcome. It only serves to confuse everyone.
The rules for winning a presidential election are well known and well established. You have to win a majority of the electors spread over many states. This means composing a message that broadly resonates with the country. Trump did that. HRC did not.
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#304What a fascinating choice between two New York billionaires. A populist carnival barker vs. a man who built his own personal tech/media empire. I'd bet dollars to donuts Mike's got a tech team in place right now that is running rings around the DNC's haphazard patronage party.
Sorry, who's the billionaire other than Bloomberg?
Tom Steyer (Hedge fund manager from NY)
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#305Earlier quoted context omitted.
i think the moral limit should be set in a way that all citizens benefit from a growing economy equally. I view it as a moral failing of a society that the upper x percent are steadily increase their share of the output of the economy while a majority doesn’t benefit much from growth.
Some humans are lazy and some humans are greedy. Capitalism exploits the greedy humans into generating wealth by rewarding them greatly, it also generates many jobs and assets for the economy. Yes that one person gets rewarded greatly, but many masses would not benefit if they never existed or were never motivated to do those things. The lazy humans will fleece the system until there's nothing left. Some people need…
Do you really believe that the billionaires are the virtuous ones and everybody else is lazy? My theory is that they have been able to focus the wealth the country generates on themselves instead of others. If all billionaires retired tomorrow I believe the country would keep working the same way and the economy would keep growing. Do you think e-commerce would be any smaller without Bezos? No way.
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#306I wonder if the entire race could be won by offering an incentive of sorts. Say a $50 Amazon gift card for every (new) voter who sends a pic of their vote receipt or something... Granted its a lot of money, but so is gifting billions to the media conglomerates for more (useless) ads...
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think they honestly cared about tax cuts. It's all about "Owning the libs" and making America "great" which Fox news tells them is exactly what America is now thanks to Trump and no no other countries are laughing at us constantly that's "Fake news"
The far right is obviously very obsessed with "owning the libs". There is a massive, silent, and barely political segment of the population between far left and far right. For that silent majority, the only real impact they will have noticed from the Trump presidency is that they paid slightly less in tax. Most people genuinely don't care about politics. Everyone cares about their money. I think the tax cuts are more…
If they honestly cared about the tax cuts then they would have noticed how transparent they were and how after a couple years they wouldn't benefit the average American at all.
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#308Earlier quoted context omitted.
Anecdotal evidence is no evidence. The vote-count statistics in high-minority districts do not back up your suspicion.
Trump got 29% of Hispanic vote, 29% of Asian vote and 37% of the “other” vote. Clearly there are a lot of minorities who voted for him.
Not sure why you are getting the down votes...
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#309Why is it healthy for American democracy to have an oligarch purchase the U.S. Presidency like a shiny, new yacht?
It's not, but hasn't money always played a big role in politics? It's hard to define where a wealthy persons legitimate advantage lies and when it becomes purchasing the presidency. I'm all for a meritocracy, but getting money out of politics doesn't seem like anything easily solved.
The amount of money Bloomberg can/is using to buy this election is unprecedented in a Presidential candidate. The simple definition for attempting to buy the presidency is "any money you control", including your bank account, your business, dark money groups, etc. Elections should be funded entirely by donations from individuals.
Re: Bloomberg bankrolls a social-media army
#310I wonder if the entire race could be won by offering an incentive of sorts. Say a $50 Amazon gift card for every (new) voter who sends a pic of their vote receipt or something... Granted its a lot of money, but so is gifting billions to the media conglomerates for more (useless) ads...
Secret ballots prevent that kind of attack. Everywhere I have voted in the US, at least, doesn't include ballot selections on the receipt.