72 super PACs spent $83.7 million on election, financial disclosure reports show

[Faygo Kid]

The newly created independent political groups known as super PACs, which raised and spent millions of dollars on last month's elections, drew much of their funding from private-equity partners and others in the financial industry, according to new financial disclosure reports.

The 72 super PACs, all formed this year, together spent $83.7 million on the election. The figures provide the best indication yet of the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions that opened the door for wealthy individuals and corporations to give unlimited contributions.

The financial disclosure reports also underscore the extent to which the flow of corporate money will be tied to political goals. Private-equity partners and hedge fund managers, for example, have a substantial stake in several issues before Congress, primarily the taxes they pay on their earnings.

"Super PACs provide a means for the super wealthy to have even more influence and an even greater voice in the political process," said Meredith McGehee, a lobbyist for the Campaign Legal Center, which advocates for tighter regulation of money in politics.

American Crossroads, a conservative super PAC that outspent its peers, pulled in six- and seven-figure donations from the financial industry. That included $500,000 from Anne Dias-Griffin, founder of the Aragon Global Management hedge fund, and her husband, Kenneth Griffin, founder of the Citadel Investment Group hedge fund. . . http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/03/AR2010120306995.html?hpid=topnews

We are so screwed, it's almost laughable at this point. Do whatever you can to maintain your sanity and families, friends. And forget about the aspirations this nation once had; we've been through rough patches before, to be sure, but now we all belong to Rupert Murdoch and his ilk, with few defenders. It's a plutocracy, not a republic or democracy.