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It's not immigrants or fraudulent voting. It's foreign *money flowing into U.S. campaigns (RB Reich)
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/how-russian-oligarchs-the-saudis. . .
This growing problem emerges from three realities:
First, foreign investors now own a whopping 40 percent of the shares of American corporations. That’s up from just 5 percent in 1982.
Second, American corporations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections — not counting their separate corporate political action committees or personal donations by executives and employees. Much of this spending is through dark money channels that opened after the Citizens United decision.
Third, by law, corporate directors and managers are accountable to their shareholders, including foreign shareholders — not to America. As the then-CEO of U.S.-based Exxon Mobil Corp. unabashedly stated, “I’m not a U.S. company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.”
The second and third of these points pose substantial threats to American democracy on their own. Add in the first, and you’ve got a sieve through which non-Americans — whose interests don’t necessarily correspond to the interests of the United States — assert growing influence over American politics.
Follow the money. In recent years, Russian billionaire oligarchs have owned significant amounts of Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb. Saudi Arabia owns about 10 percent of U.S.-based Uber and has a seat on its board.
Many of America’s largest corporations with substantial foreign ownership (including AT&T, Comcast, and Citigroup) have contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Attorney Generals Association, which in turn bankrolled the pro-Trump rally on the morning of the January 6 insurrection.
What to do about this? The Center for American Progress has a sensible proposal: It recommends that no U.S. corporation with 5 percent or more of its stock under foreign ownership or 1 percent or more controlled by a single foreign owner be allowed to spend money to sway the outcomes of U.S.elections or ballot measures. Corporate governance experts and regulators agree that these thresholds capture the level of ownership necessary to influence corporate decision-making.
This growing problem emerges from three realities:
First, foreign investors now own a whopping 40 percent of the shares of American corporations. That’s up from just 5 percent in 1982.
Second, American corporations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to influence elections — not counting their separate corporate political action committees or personal donations by executives and employees. Much of this spending is through dark money channels that opened after the Citizens United decision.
Third, by law, corporate directors and managers are accountable to their shareholders, including foreign shareholders — not to America. As the then-CEO of U.S.-based Exxon Mobil Corp. unabashedly stated, “I’m not a U.S. company and I don’t make decisions based on what’s good for the U.S.”
The second and third of these points pose substantial threats to American democracy on their own. Add in the first, and you’ve got a sieve through which non-Americans — whose interests don’t necessarily correspond to the interests of the United States — assert growing influence over American politics.
Follow the money. In recent years, Russian billionaire oligarchs have owned significant amounts of Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb. Saudi Arabia owns about 10 percent of U.S.-based Uber and has a seat on its board.
Many of America’s largest corporations with substantial foreign ownership (including AT&T, Comcast, and Citigroup) have contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Attorney Generals Association, which in turn bankrolled the pro-Trump rally on the morning of the January 6 insurrection.
What to do about this? The Center for American Progress has a sensible proposal: It recommends that no U.S. corporation with 5 percent or more of its stock under foreign ownership or 1 percent or more controlled by a single foreign owner be allowed to spend money to sway the outcomes of U.S.elections or ballot measures. Corporate governance experts and regulators agree that these thresholds capture the level of ownership necessary to influence corporate decision-making.
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