Politics 2020: The Money Side of Things // Post #1 Inundated
This post is part of a larger series on the 2020 Presidential Race and I want YOUR input!
Email me by clicking the button below to share your questions, thoughts and ideas. I will be interjecting regularly scheduled money posts with a political post once a month.
In a lot of ways I’m a recovering political junkie. I used to teach Civics and AP Government, was an avid NPR listener, and read at least a few articles in the NY Times, The Washington Post, or The Guardian a day. I’ve cut back a lot since Trump won the presidency. I still listen to NPR and I read political articles regularly, but if I read more than a few a week I tend to get overwhelmed and it’s no wonder: As I write this there are 21 Democrats and 3 Republicans running for the 2020 Presidential race and there are still 15 months until the election!
Politics and money are inevitably intertwined:
Running a successful campaign (think TV ads, social media campaigns, personalized buses, and oh so many suits) costs millions of dollars, in fact the 2016 Clinton and Trump campaigns combined cost $1.16 BILLION dollars. Some of the $1.16 billion is from the candidates themselves, but a lot of it is from individual, corporate and organizational donations.
Because of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling there are ways to fund campaigns at a much higher level (anyone heard of Super PACs? They’re these pesky organizations that spend gobs of money trying to get specific candidates elected).
Super PACs make it possible for big corporations to give unlimited amounts of money (indirectly) to candidate campaigns. That’s why the 2016 campaigns cost well over a billion dollars and only $550 million in 1992.
Once candidates are elected - either to the Legislative or Executive branch, they wield immense power on the day-to-day financial reality of American citizens. They help craft tax laws, create and enforce trade regulations (anyone else notice that goods from China are getting way more expensive?), and impact the country’s financial climate (which is all based on how we feel about money).
While the money involved in itself fascinates me, I think the important thing for us to do as voters in the upcoming election is:
Understand what each candidate believes and proposes financially (i.e. tax policy, trade regulations, paid family leave, health care coverage)
Know how we can monetarily impact the political outcomes of the upcoming election (and all elections!).
Over the next several months I will be sharing posts on each of the candidates’ financial views (let’s hope a few drop out so I don’t have to do 24!) as well as information on how you can best get involved.
Curious about a specific candidate or specific financial issue? Never want me to write about politics again?! Email me.