December 8, 2006
Hey, Campaign Finance Reformers
Andrew Roth, at Club for Growth links to a Cato report. which compares the estimated cost of the 2008 elections with Nintendo's revenue estimates for the next five weeks of its Wii consoles. Roth asks:
Nintendo sales in the next 5 weeks are expected to top the cost of the 2008 presidential election. And while there is often a lot of simulated mayhem in video games, no video game "has the power to bomb people, invade countries . . . and strongly influence policy on issues ranging from abortion to youth unemployment — all of which might cause opinionated citizens to contribute money to political campaigns.
I recall that women's cosmetics sales are about $5 billion annually, and potato/snack chips about eight.
Spending one billion every four years to choose whether Senator Clinton or Senator McCain run the Executive Brach seems a bargain.