Sam Bankman-Fried, and the conundrum that is political donations (1 Viewer)

[el caliente]

What do you do in a case like this where a wang in a wig is popped for stealing from clients, and among other poor decisions, decides to donate to politicians?

Do you demand politicians return the money in an effort to make the wronged whole? If those politicians don’t return the money, do you publicly shame them into doing it?

More than this, does SBF, and over a decade of poor experiences cause us to revisit Citizens United, and make changes to political donations?

 

[efil4]

Who exactly is "us"?

Citizens United happened in 2010. For over a decade this has been an issue ( and talked about on the previous MAP board on SR.com ). Almost as if it was a "given" that wealthy/corporate donors feed campaigns for selfish reasons, to the detriment of the voter.

Now its comes out the SBF donated a TON of money to Democratic candidates, and we are starting to see a groundswell of calls for reform.

Yet the Disclosure Act has been introduced in Congress 3 or 4 times since then and EVERY SINGLE TIME it gets to the House/Senate, it gets voted down. ( Guess which party controls which house at the time ? )

The most recent vote took place in September 2022. Care to venture a guess on how the voting split in the Senate? Or the split the 3 times before that?

Until Republicans start to hold their Representatives accountable, it will be same ole same ole.

here is your vote roll from the 9/2022 vote

U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 2nd Session

www.senate.gov

historical info:

DISCLOSE Act - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[el caliente]

I have made no mention as to Democrats receiving funds from SBF. I don’t care which side of the aisle the recipients of SBF’s ill gotten gains went to. If they received donations from SBF they should give them back, or face consequences.

As to the DISCLOSE Act, if this is what it takes to get Republicans to vote for it, then great. Make it happen.

 

[efil4]

I have made no mention as to Democrats receiving funds from SBF. I don’t care which side of the aisle the recipients of SBF’s ill gotten gains went to. If they received donations from SBF they should give them back, or face consequences.

As to the DISCLOSE Act, if this is what it takes to get Republicans to vote for it, then great. Make it happen.

They wont. They will just use this to full-court press their corporate/wealthy donors to contribute more.

This is the golden goose and until the electorate makes campaign finance reform its "1 issue voting" it will never change. This conundrum is what allowed Herschel Walker to get 48% of the vote in Georgia. "yeah he is a dolt, but he will vote party lines on the other issues ive been told are REALLY important to me, so lets get this W"

 

[samiam5211]

I think since the money was stolen, that Politicians should feel an obligation to give it back, because that money can be given back to the people it was stolen from.

I don't think they should feel obligated to give donations back in most other cases. if someone took money from R. Kelly, that is fine with me as long as they don't start pushing for a pardon for R. Kelly.

The situation created by the Citizens United ruling is terrible for the country, and SuperPac's need to be eradicated.

 

[MT15]

He already said he donated to Dems and Reps in roughly equal amounts, but he said his R donations were “dark” using the means set up by Citizens United to cloak them.

 

[el caliente]

Apparently he gave $42M+ to both Rs and Ds. I suppose once sun shines on who took how much, we will see how much these folks care about those who elected them.

I suppose worse comes to worse you can carry forward your loss, or count it as a political contribution, or maybe you claim it as a donation. This touches on so many tax items for those who lost everything.

 

[el caliente]

 

[MT15]

This is almost certainly bad or at least incomplete information.

 

[samiam5211]

Can PACs and SUPERPACs accept crypto donations?

 

[el caliente]

This is almost certainly bad or at least incomplete information.

The list is so long I can’t imagine he didn’t just send out a mass message with funding request link to automate the process …seems so wasteful to individually donate to all these, but hey, he’s SBF.

 

[bird]

We must congratulate ourselves on one of the worst SCOTUS in history. This group ranks with Taney and the Dred Scott decision as well the Fuller court of Plessy v Ferguson.

 

[MT15]

The list is so long I can’t imagine he didn’t just send out a mass message with funding request link to automate the process …seems so wasteful to individually donate to all these, but hey, he’s SBF.

Or it could be a bogus list.

 

[el caliente]

Or it could be a bogus list.

Yeah, perhaps SBF is innocent of any wrongdoing.

 

[MT15]

Yeah, perhaps SBF is innocent of any wrongdoing.

No, I don’t think there’s any reason to think that. Do you think that’s a possibility?

 

[el caliente]

No, I don’t think there’s any reason to think that. Do you think that’s a possibility?

No, I don’t think there any reason to doubt that list.

Unusual Political Trading

Track unusual house, senate, SCOTUS investing, and corporate lobbying for free using unusualwhales.com, as well as deep dive in the most unusual of trading + political deals. The go to place to see everything in finance, politics, investing, and options.

unusualwhales.com

And then there’s this…

 

[el caliente]

Then you have folks like Ken Griffin donating $135M between Pacs and specific candidates.

Ken Griffin and Citadel Donation Train

Track unusual house, senate, SCOTUS investing, and corporate lobbying for free using unusualwhales.com, as well as deep dive in the most unusual of trading + political deals. The go to place to see everything in finance, politics, investing, and options.

unusualwhales.com

 

[MT15]

So, since I’ve never heard of your source here, how do you know they’re reliable? They’re selling a product basically as far as I can tell. But do you know their lists are accurate and complete?