The Megadonors Who Have Poured $1.2B into the Midterms(www.nytimes.com)
30 pointsby doener5 hours ago5 comments
  • wpman hour ago
    If they have the money for this, they have the money to pay more in taxes.
    • dboreham24 minutes ago
      I think you misunderstand the direction of the trade.
  • hightrix30 minutes ago
    This is an old article. Musk has spent close to half a billion himself this election cycle.
    • epistasis19 minutes ago
      Establishing a wealth tax based on the rolling 10 prior years worth of PAC donations would feel somewhat fitting. A basis point per $50k or something.
  • QGQBGdeZREunxLe29 minutes ago
    Is there any viable road to campaign finance reform that is also constitutional?
    • jacquesm28 minutes ago
      There always was. You just have to make sure your Supreme Court isn't bought and paid for by the same people who wish to buy elections.
      • epistasis24 minutes ago
        Yes, we need a vastly larger supreme court, probably with a reorganization such that there are smaller panels that hear cases, etc, like happens with other courts.

        The current court is completely partisan and has zero judicial theory other than backing partisan power and oligarch power. They have the final say on how to interpret the constitution but reject the founding principles of the USA.

        • jacquesm20 minutes ago
          And far better checks on whether or not a SC member has been bought. There is so much evidence of this and yet everybody just sits around as if they couldn't possibly do anything about it. A politicized Supreme Court is worse than nothing because it concentrates insane power in the hand a few un-elected people.
          • defrost8 minutes ago
            There are no checks because (US) Supreme Court judges aren't subject to any laws making non declaration of gifted RV's and expensive holidays illegal.

            That said - yes, they need anti corruption / bribery regulation, fixed terms, and those terms to be co-prime wrt political fixed terms.

            * https://www.abc.net.au/science/archive/articles/2001/11/27/4...

      • dboreham23 minutes ago
        Also the court follows laws. There are numerous cases where weird stuff happens with supreme court rulings only because congress never passed any law regarding whatever it is.
    • free_bip19 minutes ago
      I believe Hawaii already has, by redefining what rights corporations have under their state constitution. If every state followed suit, the problem would be solved.
      • SV_BubbleTime6 minutes ago
        > If every state followed suit, the problem would be solved.

        If we just change the rules, the game will stay exactly the same? Sorry, but this awfully naive.

  • darth_avocado21 minutes ago
    How is Elon Musk only being reported as $90M when other sources say it’s more than $400M+? Seems like this is a big discrepancy.

    Example: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/...

    • defrost7 minutes ago
      It's a two month old article - the reporting on Musks contributions is more recent.