Recorded webinar from Nov 24, 2014. This session provided findings from Fixed Fortunes as well as explained the methodology and presented ideas for further analysis.
How much do the biggest donors to political campaigns get out of Washington? When firms put millions into the political process, and get tens of billions out, is there an appearance of corruption? The Sunlight Foundation examined a subset of large campaign contributors—the 200 biggest givers among for-profit corporations (of course, we mean their executives and political action committees)—and looked at their financial relationship with the federal government.
We found that, between 2007 and 2012, those companies spent a total of $5.8 billion to influence Washington. The 200 corporations benefited from $4.4 trillion in federal business and support over the same time period--more than the $4.3 trillion that roughly 50 million Americans got from the Social Security system over the same period.
This webinar provided a step-by-step walk through our Fixed Fortunes project—the findings, the methodology and the meaning.