Chapter 10. Vid: U.S. Political Landscape Awash in Money - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPCerZqE15s
The debate this fall: Who can turn around America’s economy?
The nation’s airwaves are swamped with negative political commercials.
Barack Obama wasted eight hundred billion dollars on a failed stimulus.
And the general election campaign is just beginning.
Mitt Romney’s worth two hundred million dollars but under Paul Ryan’s budget, he’d pay only one percent in taxes.
And many of the ads are being paid for by groups few are familiar with.
Priorities U S A Action is responsible for the content of this advertising.
[Protestors] Rights are for people; not for corporations.
And some Americans are angry enough to protest at the Supreme Court. They are unhappy with a two thousand ten decision that allows corporations, unions, and the wealthy to spend unlimited amounts of money during elections.
I feel like corporate money is um, invading our politics and taking voices away from the common people.
According to the center for responsive politics, which tracks election spending, independent groups in two thousand four spent about sixty nine million dollars on advertising. That jumped to a hundred fifty six million in two thousand eight. This year nearly three hundred million dollars has been spent, and that number is expected to grow much larger between now and the November election.
Our long-term concern is that that’s a recipe for corruption.
Mary Boyle is with the advocacy group Common Cause.
A lot of this money is un, we don’t know who’s spending it, uh, certainly the American public deserves to know who is spending all this money to influence, uh, elected officials.
Analysts say voters may already be getting frustrated with being bombarded by commercials and there could be a back-lash when they head to the polls.
Senior Analyst Michael Frank of the Heritage Foundation:
You can have all the money in the world and all the resources at your disposal, but if your primary target audience, I E your voters, are getting upset and, and angered by the outreach, it doesn’t do you any good.
[crowd voices] Hi, how are you? Good to see you.
The number of undecided voters in the presidential election is small but that is not expected to stop the flow of independent money.
[crowd voices] Hey, what’s going on guys? How are you doing?
Polls show the race is very close, ensuring a frenzy of spending between now and election day.
Meredith Buel, VOA News, Washington