158 Families calling the shots

[TBF]

Two-thirds of Americans support higher taxes on those earning $1 million or more a year, according to a June New York Times/CBS News poll, while six in 10 favor more government intervention to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly seven in 10 favor preserving Social Security and Medicare benefits as they are.

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, SARAH COHEN and KAREN YOURISH
OCT. 10, 2015

They are overwhelmingly white, rich, older and male, in a nation that is being remade by the young, by women, and by black and brown voters. Across a sprawling country, they reside in an archipelago of wealth, exclusive neighborhoods dotting a handful of cities and towns. And in an economy that has minted billionaires in a dizzying array of industries, most made their fortunes in just two: finance and energy.

Now they are deploying their vast wealth in the political arena, providing almost half of all the seed money raised to support Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Just 158 families, along with companies they own or control, contributed $176 million in the first phase of the campaign, according to a New York Times investigation. Not since before Watergate have so few people and businesses provided so much early money in a campaign, most of it through channels legalized by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision five years ago.

These donors’ fortunes reflect the shifting composition of the country’s economic elite. Relatively few work in the traditional ranks of corporate America, or hail from dynasties of inherited wealth. Most built their own businesses, parlaying talent and an appetite for risk into huge wealth: They founded hedge funds in New York, bought up undervalued oil leases in Texas, made blockbusters in Hollywood. More than a dozen of the elite donors were born outside the United States, immigrating from countries like Cuba, the old Soviet Union, Pakistan, India and Israel ...

Much more here (this is fascinating - after clicking on the link scroll down past the photo to get to the text): http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/11/us/politics/2016-presidential-election-super-pac-donors.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0




They all live in close proximity to the River Oaks Country Club (these are the 8 families in Houston - $$$ from Energy - they give to Republicans):




Many of the families live in Texas and Florida.

Two of the donors live on Indian Creek Island Road in Florida, the most expensive street in the United States, according to Zillow:

[yeoman6987]

1. And most probably lost money this year due to falling oil costs

They might even pay less taxes then last year.

[questionseverything]

2. this is such an important article

there are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many more of us than them and yet they run everything

honestly i do not know if bernie can fix things but at least he has identified the problem and i trust him to try

[Anansi1171]

3. I'll wager any of the 8 families $1 that an African-American does not so much as even work...

...at that Country Club.

[TBF]

4. I've only been there once

for an event. Believe me, we live no where near there and are not members (professional level - we live out in the burbs where houses are affordable). Anyway, I do remember POC parking cars but as far as being members - I don't know. I don't have enough access to that lifestyle to have any clue.

We sometimes drive through at the holidays with other gawkers and look at the holiday light displays.

[daleanime]

5. The root of our problems.....

[MisterP]

6. honestly it'd take a lot of the edge off the disgust if any one of them had an ounce of taste

going around on Curbed you can see that the interiors looks like Tony Montana's pad crossed with the Rocky Horror mansion

and the outsides look like a CPU mistake while you're designing a house in The Sims, just scores of gables emerging from one another after a meter or two

[cantbeserious]

7. Know Thy Enemy - Oligarchs, Corporations, Banks And Their Media Minions And MIC Henchmen

eom

[47of74]

8. Especially the ones who claim to be Democrats

Like the third way people.

[TBF]

9. Hillary was here in June.

I wasn't invited ... not in the same circles as Lynn Wyatt.

Lynn Wyatt: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Wyatt

After a spirited speech at Texas Southern University Thursday afternoon, former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton headed for the rarified environs of Carnarvon Drive for a cocktail reception/fundraiser that one supporter said "blew right through the goals. It was a huge success."

Sima and Masoud Ladjevardian hosted the event in their expansive home in the close-in Memorial neighborhood along with attorney Carrin Patman and former ambassador Arthur Schechter.

Close to 200 guests ponied up the minimum contribution of $2,700, while some in the group brought in considerably more dollars.

The presidential candidate's remarks, which lasted more than 20 minutes, covered substantive issues including the student loan crises, the Affordable Care Act and President Obama's free community college program. Before commanding the attention of her high-roller Houston fan base, Clinton was tete-a-tete with the Ladjevardians, Schechter and Lynn Wyatt.

Here: http://houston.culturemap.com/news/society/06-05-15-inside-hillary-clintons-private-houston-fundraiser-after-fiery-speech-dem-frontrunner-charms-top-donors/

[cantbeserious]

10. HRC - The Best Advocate The 1% Could Ever Buy With Their Billions

eom