Wall Street's Political Influence Is Growing
The latest numbers on presidential campaign donations for this election cycle show that even while all the candidates are vowing to take on Wall Street, the political power of Wall Street’s money is increasing.
The Wall Street Journal reports today that the super PACs that increasingly bankroll campaigns are seeing a greater portion of their money coming from the financial industry than in any previous election cycle. From the WSJ:
So far, super PACs have received more than one-third of their donations from financial-services executives, according to data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
In the 2012 election, donations from the financial-services sector made up roughly 20% of the $845 million raised by super PACs, or political-action committees, and other independent campaign groups. In the 2004 election, Wall Street and other financial groups were responsible for just $2.4 million of the money collected by super PACs or other independent groups spending money on the election.
The silver lining is that Wall Streeters are no better at picking winning presidential candidates this year than they are at picking stocks, so much of their donated money is wasted! Losers/ Idiots! Bloomberg notes that the big recipient of Wall Street cash in the first half of last year was Jeb Bush—and in the second half, those donations fell by more than 90%. Because Jeb Bush is a googly-eyed schlub that nobody wants to vote for, it turns out! Go figure!
“It’s like buying a stock and watching it fall,” says one Wall Street Bush donor.
Feels good to laugh at Jeb Bush but then again Wall Street is exerting its financial control over our political system more and more and also, you know, “Donald Trump.”