190 Comments

It's well past time to severely limit contributions once again. No one's vote should be worth more. Thank you for shedding a light on this, & calling out the elite minority who impose their beliefs on the rest of us!

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We have the disastrous and asinine "Citizens United" decision for anti-American billionaires, that don't pay taxes, to have 99% of the power in American politics! WHEN the _rumplicans lose power in 2022 and then 2024, the new Democratic majority will be able to fix this mess. (Call me a niave fool, but I still have faith in Americans.)

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Even before CU wealth & power disparity had been getting wider & wider, & too much money was dumped on elections, which prompted McCain Feingold's ill-fated campaign to reduce influence of money on elections.

It just keeps getting worse. We have a very long way to go before we get anything approaching a free & fair election system.

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People like this who claim “principles”, without stating what they are, are worse than Rick Scott. Yeah, that guy, the swindler of Medicare. Only in Florida (or maybe Texas), where the rest of us continue to pay for their environmental disasters, could such a creep be elected.

So far, no one has really responded to your request.

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Thank you for reminding the world that Rick Scott is a swindler and yet is a Senator. Indeed, only in Florida would such a person get elected to office.

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Why did Rick Scott not go to jail for swindling Medicare? How do these thieves get away with it. If I defraud Medicare I get thrown in jail, but Scott gets millions of bucks. Chop off their heads.

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I live here now, but did not live here when this happened. My brother who is a retired MD, was absolutely furious that Scott pleaded the 5th and was NOT convicted. The GOP in Florida is a bunch of good ol' boys and girls. They are owned by the large corporations who do business in the state.

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Our Florida legislature is completely corrupt and owned by developers and other major corporations. They used to call them "The Pork Chop Gang" when the state was owned by segregationists democrats. Now the same group are republicans with the same ideas.

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Awaiting word from Baghdad ... (But of course everyone in Florida has concerns more urgent than politics just now.)

Oh, of course: Not a Dixie exclusive. Providence, R.I., beloved scoundrel mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci won another term after doing time for misdeeds committed while *in office*. But in a Yankee Dem city, guess which party he was. Others are floating around distant memory. Senator Shelly Moore Capito's father, West Virginia governor Arch Moore, yet another corrupt Republican, after doing time was defeated in a run for a third term. (Buddy and Arch both made Wikipedia.) Who else? …

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Bravo, Professor Reich!

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Well, I guess you told him! It is amazing how people like Ken Griffin can rationalize. Principles? He has none.

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He does have principles. They are me, myself, and I all the time. What’s in it for me? Those are his principles.

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JennSH from NC ; It sure looks that way. He is not alone either.

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Exactly; the contributions are "principled" - because they are constituted of his money! (What a joke!)

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Griffin is a facist. His Principles, a marriage of big money and government and to hell for the rest of us.

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Brett; ; yes! For them it's "Hooray for me and f#@k everybody else".

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Perfect! His principal response is an echo of TRUMPLICANS swearing that they like Trump’s policies, but when asked to specify which policies, they refuse to answer.

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Policies? How do you expect an answer when he has none. The trumpster ran for the presidency because he visioned himself as the sole dictator with adoring fans at his feet - policy never entered his mind.

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I think he has a policy Fay. And that would be to make large financial contributions to politicians who are likely to support his goal of continuing to enrich himself by sucking money out of the body politic.

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I was referring to the trumpster not Griffin, but I like you comment re Griffin too.

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Yes, please tell us just how supporting treason is helping America ? .

-Nate

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I bet $50 to a mutually agreed on charity, Bob, that this bankster will either not answer you or will instead of answering your questions, use the opportunity to soapbox his political views again, at your expense.

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I’m in!

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As per usual!

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Maybe that visit to Dr. Phil's show is in order after all; hmm...

= D

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Nothing says securing America's future like a good old insurrection, complete with beatings and a couple of deaths.

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The rant of a better America is trite, a smoke screen for bigotry and a history of a non-inclusive oligarchical America.

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Grateful that you have the clout to trigger a response from Ken Griffin, Professor. None of these obscenely rich people seem to answer to anyone else, and I have to wonder if the ex-president hasn't emboldened them to do as they please, the people be damned.

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Bingo! Thank you for exposing his "principles."

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What more can you expect from someone who cares first and foremost about himself? The entire Earth is alternately burning and flooding - Who Cares, He's safe and the rest of the people (including his own offspring) can be damned. Most (but thankfully not all) people who have cheated, connived, schemed to claw their way to the top care nothing for others, They support the trumpster because they applaud his dishonesty, his yearning to be sole dictator of the USA, because if he wins they know they can manipulate him to their own purposes.

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Well said, Mr Reich. Thank you!

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what I've noticed in 'their' conversation(s) - very well to do individuals - the richest of the rich -

IS - use, what I call, the j. r. e. approach when answering these kinds of questions. i.e. "justification,

rationalization, and excuse", all of which can and do take many forms and approaches, but usually

winds up being the same ~ to 'justify' their wealth ~ ~ ~

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I use DDO…Deny, Deflect & Obfuscate….same point said differently

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I like this version and will have to remember it !

It reminds me of a joke (I love BAD jokes and frequently make lots of them ~) :

'Come up with a sentence using these four words: defeat, detail, defense, deduct."

Answer: Detail of Deduct went over Defense after Defeat !" LOL (or cqc = chuckle, quietly chuckle).

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So what products might I have been buying from Ken Griffin (or any of the other billionaire) enterprises that I could now boycott?

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This is a difficult question to answer because hedge fund investors in very general terms are rich people who can afford to game the stock market by driving stock prices down for fragile companies by shorting the stocks … or boosting the stocks that are likely to rapidly rise in share value as a result of their driving other companies stocks down in value. Hedge fund trading, in summary, has very little socially positive value and high potential to damage the employees adversely impacted by their manipulation of the markets.

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"Secure a better America" for rich people, is what he means. And the deflection comment is so typical. I wish he could stay on point, and give a better, detailed response. I appreciate your pointed question, even if you knew you'd never get an honest, substantive response.

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