That's how much money was spent on the 2012 campaigns. Seven. Billion. Dollars. Read more about it here.
If you had seven billion dollars how would you spend it? Does money=speech? Is this a good thing for America?
Comments below.
4 comments:
Philip Balcar
said...
$7,000,000,000 is a lot of money, especially with the United States national debt resting comfortably in the trillions. However, when used right, this money could serve well for the American people. I will admit that 7 Billion dollars is way too much for a campaign full of attack ads and degrading opponents. While this has been the trend of past elections, each year breaking the "record" of the previous election, the important thing is what is being done with this money. I have no problem with the government and campaigns using these amounts of money, as long as it is used to well inform the uneducated about the political process and help them form their own ideas and vote for leaders that best represent those ideas, instead of making them detest those who don't hold their same ideals.
Great comment Philip, that will get you some extra credit. If it is used for "mudslinging" (and much of the money is) should negative ads be regulated? Even just minimally regulated so the claims that are made are true and not intentionally misleading? It likely won't happen, but it is a question that bears asking.
$7,000,000,000 honestly that's a lot of money to use regardless of it's use. Especially if our economy is suffering like it is now,it's important to be wise about how much money you spend on certain things. However I agree with Phillip using the money towards things like educating the general public about who to vote for seems pretty resourceful. Although 7 billion dollars seems like a lot of money to use on campaign and ads.
What I don't understand is if these candidates can raise this much money for their individual campaigns, why can't we get rid of our debt? These groups and individuals that are contributing to the candidates are some of the main people that want tax cuts (and a raise in taxes is one of the top contending ways to slash our debt). I don't think it takes an entire 7 billion dollars to campaign or advertise, considering many of the advertisements I saw in the past elections weren't very educational.There's so much more that could be done with that money. For example, with 7 billion dollars we could make our educational system better (by buying new supplies, allowing kids to have electives like the arts and physical education, and have enough money to have an appropriate number of teachers).
4 comments:
$7,000,000,000 is a lot of money, especially with the United States national debt resting comfortably in the trillions. However, when used right, this money could serve well for the American people. I will admit that 7 Billion dollars is way too much for a campaign full of attack ads and degrading opponents. While this has been the trend of past elections, each year breaking the "record" of the previous election, the important thing is what is being done with this money. I have no problem with the government and campaigns using these amounts of money, as long as it is used to well inform the uneducated about the political process and help them form their own ideas and vote for leaders that best represent those ideas, instead of making them detest those who don't hold their same ideals.
Great comment Philip, that will get you some extra credit. If it is used for "mudslinging" (and much of the money is) should negative ads be regulated? Even just minimally regulated so the claims that are made are true and not intentionally misleading? It likely won't happen, but it is a question that bears asking.
$7,000,000,000 honestly that's a lot of money to use regardless of it's use. Especially if our economy is suffering like it is now,it's important to be wise about how much money you spend on certain things. However I agree with Phillip using the money towards things like educating the general public about who to vote for seems pretty resourceful. Although 7 billion dollars seems like a lot of money to use on campaign and ads.
What I don't understand is if these candidates can raise this much money for their individual campaigns, why can't we get rid of our debt? These groups and individuals that are contributing to the candidates are some of the main people that want tax cuts (and a raise in taxes is one of the top contending ways to slash our debt). I don't think it takes an entire 7 billion dollars to campaign or advertise, considering many of the advertisements I saw in the past elections weren't very educational.There's so much more that could be done with that money. For example, with 7 billion dollars we could make our educational system better (by buying new supplies, allowing kids to have electives like the arts and physical education, and have enough money to have an appropriate number of teachers).
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