HOW AMERICA’S BIG-BOX RETAILERS TURN THEIR ECONOMIC POWER INTO POLITICAL INFLUENCE
http://www.demos.org/publication/retail-politics-how-america%E2%80%99s-big-box-retailers-turn-their-economic-power-political-infl
The notion that all citizens have a voice in our countrys governance is at the center of the American ideal of democracy. Yet the role of corporate and private money in our political system means that the voices of the majority are often drowned out by those with the most money. The political spending of the countrys largest big-box retailers demonstrates how firms with low-wage business models turn massive profits into political leverage, embedding the inequality they perpetuate in the economy into the political system. This report examines the federal campaign spending and lobbying of the nations top earning big-box retailers, and finds that it is large and growing, and targeted at maintaining their economic power through political influence.
Big-box retailers spent $30 million on elections and lobbying during the 2014 election cycle, almost six times more than they spent in 2000.
Walmart and Home Depotthrough their Political Action Committee (PAC) and individual donationsare ranked among the 100 biggest political donors in the country.
The country's largest big-box retailers spent a total of $111 million since the 2000 election cycle lobbying Congress on issues like corporate tax reform, health care, and labor, antitrust, and workplace regulations.
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