Over a Billion dollars raised!!!!
This title may be classified as a bit of linkbait (for those who do not what this means I will be posting something on this soon)
As at the end of June 2008, fund raising for the US presidential campaign topped the $1,000,000,000.00 mark – $1,088,160,619.00 to be exact (this figure courtesy of OpenSecrets for responsible politics)
I am still confounded by the amount of cash that is expensed by the candidates in pursuit of this job. I understand that the position of US President is an extremely import job, but this number has got to be seen as over the top.
The 22 candidates that have not made it i.e. dropped out of the race, together managed to work through over $603,478,101.00
Some billion dollar facts:
1. A billion dollars would be a stack of one dollar bills 62.5 miles high
2. $1 billion is the amount the average American worker, with an annual salary of $19,460, will earn, before taxes, in just 51,387 years
Maybe I am just a little fixated on these elections and the money spent, but it does seem odd that that the candidates can spend this kind of money on this job, although I suppose compared to the $200,000,000.00 a day being spent on the war in Iraq this is small potatoes. Buy the way for $8.99 the current cost per vote based on the 2004 voter turnout and the money raised to date by the candidates, you can buy around 7 pounds of potatoes!.
And finally for $1,000,000,000.00 you could have a fed 1,000,000 children a day at, $1.00 per child, for 1000 days (3 years just one year short of a full presidential term) PS. these are hungry children in the USA.
