Spy drones coming to your city soon!

[no_such_reality]

[quote=CA renter][quote=no_such_reality]
Lots…[/quote]

More:

1 Finance/Insur/RealEst $142,252,611 37.4% 56.8%
2 Other $93,335,016 53.9% 43.5%
3 Misc Business $89,680,342 44.7% 50.5%
4 Lawyers & Lobbyists $65,644,767 67.0% 32.5%
5 Health $48,228,756 44.0% 55.2%
6 Ideology/Single-Issue $45,391,147 51.7% 46.9%
7 Communic/Electronics $44,925,020 54.0% 31.0%
8 Energy/Nat Resource $31,161,475 22.4% 77.2%
9 Construction $26,004,561 27.7% 59.5%
10 Labor $21,469,557 75.5% 11.5%
11 Agribusiness $20,235,260 29.3% 69.3%
12 Transportation $19,320,906 24.9% 73.2%
13 Defense $8,503,149 38.8% 60.9%

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/index.php

Unions are nowhere near the big spenders you seem to think they are. It might help explain why the “anti-union” propaganda spewed by the corporatists/capitalists has been gaining so much strength.

Know where you stand.[/quote]

Devil is in the details, I suggest you drill in.

Look at Labor:
Service Employees International Union $1,426,215
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $1,337,561
Carpenters & Joiners Union $1,039,000
American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees $1,019,680
Sheet Metal Workers Union $989,500
Communications Workers of America $919,239
Teamsters Union $869,110
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn $856,830
Machinists/Aerospace Workers Union $832,250
Plumbers/Pipefitters Union

Now look at banks…
American Bankers Assn $1,128,500
Bank of America $859,442
JPMorgan Chase & Co $809,746
Wells Fargo $663,973
Independent Community Bankers of America $639,200
Citigroup Inc $628,847

tsk tsk tsk, those poor union are outspending the major banks…

What is other?

Contributor Amount
Harvard University $578,584
Stanford University $369,533
US Government $347,389
John Templeton Foundation $336,000
University of California $330,495
National Community Action Foundation $265,050
US Dept of State $224,357
Dodge Jones Foundation $218,700
Columbia University $200,484
US Senate $193,372
Apollo Group $180,541
Bridgepoint Education $178,712
University of Pennsylvania $155,957
Full Sail $137,300
University of Texas $121,603
State of Texas $115,730
City University of New York $114,526
US Army $113,595
Keiser University $112,810
Yale University

And the univeristies almost are too.

[no_such_reality]

Finally, one moe from your site, Top contributotrs 1989 to now

Rank Organization Total ’89-’12 Dem % Repub % Tilt
1 ActBlue $57,470,970 99% 0%
2 AT&T Inc $48,025,567 44% 55%
3 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $46,382,548 94% 1%
4 National Assn of Realtors $41,403,426 47% 49%
5 Service Employees International Union $37,829,428 76% 2%
6 National Education Assn $37,197,739 82% 5%
7 Goldman Sachs $36,344,887 60% 39%
8 American Assn for Justice $35,200,054 88% 8%
9 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $34,637,147 97% 2%
10 Laborers Union $32,213,700 88% 7%

Five of the top ten are unions.
two are corporations.
two are quazi-unions /industry- NAR and the trial lawyers
#1 is a democrat PAC

11-20 is more interesting
7 are unions
1 is a corp
1 is a PAC, american medical association
1 is auto dealers is an industry PAC

Unions are the big spenders.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A

[CA renter]

Not sure how or where your post shows that unions/labor outspent capital/corporations.

Here are the top contributors from the FIRE sectors (from my previous link):

Top Contributors, 2011-2012
Contributor Amount
Goldman Sachs $2,110,292
Bain Capital $1,796,200
Paulson & Co $1,569,150
National Assn of Realtors $1,454,662
Bank of America $1,162,973
PriceWaterhouseCoopers $1,157,201
American Bankers Assn $1,128,500
Credit Union National Assn $1,097,125
New York Life Insurance $1,085,075
Deloitte LLP $1,005,621
Morgan Stanley $935,131
Wells Fargo $894,727
The Villages $885,612
JPMorgan Chase & Co $862,711
Credit Suisse Group $806,622
Blackstone Group $773,035
UBS AG $760,136
AFLAC Inc $757,800
Ernst & Young $737,375
Citigroup Inc $663,702

[edit: This is in response to the first of your most recent posts.]

[poorgradstudent]

[quote=markmax33]Don’t be naive, should he be impeached for signing the NDAA?[/quote]
Absolutely not. The President has the authority to sign laws passed by Congress. If they are not constitutional, that is for the Supreme Court and not “experts” on the internet to determine.

Let’s face it, it would be extremely strange for congress to impeach a President for signing a law they passed, don’t you think?

[no_such_reality]

[quote=CA renter]Not sure how or where your post shows that unions/labor outspent capital/corporations.
[/quote]

Commercial Banks and not the entire FIRE industry segment which represents 20%+ of the national GDP.

However, when you get it to, please review the following two links which further breakdown the contributions.

As you can see, the Labor bucket is 80% PAC money, 20% soft money and 0.1% individual money. It’s also 90% given to Democrats.
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/totals.php?cycle=2012&ind=P

The FIRE sector is by contrast, 75% Individuals, 20% PAC money and 5% soft money. http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?cycle=2012&ind=F

PAC to PAC, union PACs outspend FIRE sector PACs in 2008, slightly got beat by FIRE in 2010 and so far are being outspent but that’ll change come the real 2012 election race.

Of greater note, Union money in 2008, 2010 went 92% and 94% to Democrats. FIRE money was split 51%/49% and 47%/53% respectively.

Or are you saying the individuals that happen to work in the FIRE sector shouldn’t have a voice? My company has a program, employees donate and dictate what candidates their money goes to but it comes as part of match from the company.

If you’re worried about influence peddling, and you should be, I’d be worried about large lopsided expenditures.

Now look at the last link. Other.

Remember, it was dominated by Universities and Governments. The contributors tells the story that most at individual contributions. IOW, the employee donations that correspond the to LABOR PAC donations in the labor group. It’s #2 $412M in 2008.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?ind=W&cycle=2012

For a final snicker, here’s the link to look at the infamous Goldman Sachs donors. It’s the top 17. Democrat donations lead 2:1 over republicans in the long term donors. That evil FIRE money…

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/topindivs.php?cycle=2012&id=D000000085

[Arraya]

It’s the free market, baby! Politicians, for sale to the highest bidder!

I don’t think amount of political favor is dictated solely by monetary contribution size. Though, there is a very very strong correlation.

I also don’t think a case could be made the unions have NOT been losing power over the last several decades.

Interesting snippet from Wikipedia

Although most industrialized countries have seen a drop in unionization rates, the drop in union density (the unionized proportion of the working population) has been more significant in the United States than elsewhere.

[CA renter]

[quote=no_such_reality]Finally, one moe from your site, Top contributotrs 1989 to now

Rank Organization Total ’89-’12 Dem % Repub % Tilt
1 ActBlue $57,470,970 99% 0%
2 AT&T Inc $48,025,567 44% 55%
3 American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $46,382,548 94% 1%
4 National Assn of Realtors $41,403,426 47% 49%
5 Service Employees International Union $37,829,428 76% 2%
6 National Education Assn $37,197,739 82% 5%
7 Goldman Sachs $36,344,887 60% 39%
8 American Assn for Justice $35,200,054 88% 8%
9 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $34,637,147 97% 2%
10 Laborers Union $32,213,700 88% 7%

Five of the top ten are unions.
two are corporations.
two are quazi-unions /industry- NAR and the trial lawyers
#1 is a democrat PAC

11-20 is more interesting
7 are unions
1 is a corp
1 is a PAC, american medical association
1 is auto dealers is an industry PAC

Unions are the big spenders.

http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/list.php?order=A%5B/quote%5D

Act Blue is not a labor organization. They are a PAC created to support Democratic candidates.

You are comparing entities that represent multiple unions (SEIU and AFSCME) — on a national level — to single companies that represent only one company out of many in that sector. You either have to compare whole sectors/interests or individual entities (a single union to a single corporation *OR* labor unions, as a whole, to the financial sector as a whole).

[Author]

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