Fortune 500 CEO’s Dominate Romney Campaign Donations (Guest Voice)
Fortune 500 CEO’s Dominate Romney Campaign Donations
by Rebecca Wright
New data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) details the staggering disparity between donations made by America’s top chief executives to Mitt Romney’s election campaign fund compared to those made to President Obama’s re-election campaign fund. The financial contributions made by CEO’s of ‘fortune 500′ companies to Romney’s campaign fund currently stands at just under $322,00 – compared to only $75,500 for Obama.
A recent MSNBC.com article by Michael O’Brien and Katherine Faulders from NBC News details how Romney is winning the battle to get corporate America on his side. The NBC article suggests that the funds raised “Paint a picture of where the upper echelons of corporate America’s sympathies might lie at this point in the campaign.”
According to O’Brien and Faulders’ piece, these figures from the FEC record contributions made through the second quarter of 2012. They further add that the results are hardly surprising as they mirror the pattern from the 2008 presidential election race where the GOP candidate John McCain won widespread support from CEO’s. The NBC article carries a quote from Romney’s spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg is quoted as saying “People who support Mitt Romney do so because they support his pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda for the country.”
They conclude by stating that even though individual campaign donations ($5,000 split evenly into two $2,500 amounts for the primary and general election) are just a drop in the ocean, the rise of the super PACs will result in even bigger corporate donations in the presidential race – an area that isn’t completely transparent;
“Many super PACs have also established twin, nonprofit groups as so-called “social welfare organizations” that, under existing federal law, can spend and receive millions on advocacy work, as long as they don’t directly support or oppose a candidate. There’s no way to know how much these groups – like Crossroads GPS, the 501(c)(4) arm of the conservative American Crossroads super PAC or the pro-Obama Priorities USA – have received from these CEOs or other corporate titans. Additionally, a corporation itself can give directly to these groups.”
What this means for the presidential election campaign fund is one thing, what it means for the future of American politics and democracy as a whole is a whole new ball game – and one that will be extremely difficult to umpire.
Rebecca Wright is a political writer and commentator based in the USA. She specializes in the fields of energy production, free market economics, and government spending. She writes for AmericanLiveWire.com and Govtslaves.info. When not reading and writing about politics she can be found playing her guitar and writing songs and freedom!
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OK, I get it, fortune 500 CEO = bad.
So lets trace the issue to the root.
Nearly all F500 companies are publicly traded.
This means that a f500 CEO is *legally* bound by fiduciary trust (also called fiduciary responsibility).
If you aren’t familiar, fiduciary trust means that a CEO is legally required to do whatever maximizes shareholder value.
Literally, this means that a CEO *must* maximize profits above all other priorities.
So is the problem Romney or the legal requirement that CEO’s maximize profit as the top priority?
Pay attention — this is an important question — one of these things matter, one is just a 2012 election fad.
Response?
“they support his pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda for the country.”
Lol, they support him for the simple fact that he is going to lower their taxes and they will personally make more money. And to hell if the already struggling middle class has to foot the bill.
Shareholder value is measured by the price of shares, which, using the benchmark Dow to measure, have nearly doubled in four years under Obama. Let’s not forget that private sector jobs have increased under Obama.
Romney’s policies are a continuation of Bush’s. The Dow plummeted under Bush and jobs were lost.
I think what “scares” business leaders the most about Obama is his push for consumer protections against big businesses, such as the FTC’s consumer protection agency.
Big businesses will do whatever it takes, legal or otherwise to make a profit. In these tough times it’s an employer’s market and big businesses making profits will even lay off employees to make more profits. They know the employees will work their fingers to the bone to stay employed.
The Obama administration will impose fines on businesses that overstep the legal boundaries. Romney will let businesses get away with murder, leaving consumers and employees to fend for themselves.