The top 20 performers:
Who is Number 1? Goldman Sachs? Wells Fargo? Nope. The National Association of Realtors (NAR). It’s trying to get the government to inflate the housing market in myriad ways, for instance by dominating the mortgage industry, including guarantees and mortgage-backed securities, thereby subsidizing mortgage rates. It’s all about Realtors making more money because commissions are fatter if extracted from higher home prices. And the NAR is very concerned that the government might be cracking down on pandemic money laundering in the housing sector.
The NAR gave more than twice as much as the next guy in line, namely a quant hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies, followed by another hedge fund, Paloma Partners, followed by another hedge fund, Elliot Management, followed by the banking trade association, American Bankers Association.
Commercial banks are further down on this list (campaign contributions and lobbying expenses combined):
National Association of Realtors – $118,622,462
Renaissance Technologies – $53,479,983
Paloma Partners – $41,334,000
Elliott Management – $28,020,354
American Bankers Association (ABA) – $25,750,687
Bloomberg LP – $25,528,952
Soros Fund Management – $24,642,840,,,,,,GO FIGURE!!!!!
Pritzker Group – $23,668,814
Prudential Financial – $19,021,920
Securities Industry & Financial Market Association (SIFMA) – $16,006,600
Starr Companies – $15,316,251
Stephens Group – $15,193,306
Citadel LLC – $14,846,004
Wells Fargo – $14,755,343
Citigroup Inc – $13,676,918
Hendricks Holding Co – $13,499,525
MetLife Inc – $13,196,824
New York Life Insurance – $12,792,478
Goldman Sachs – $12,414,029
Investment Company Institute (ICI) – $12,382,079
http://wolfstreet.com/2017/03/08/financial-sector-2-billion-campaign-contributions-lobbying-biggest-spenders-real-estate-not-banks/
Realist - Everybody in America is soft, and hates conflict. The cure for this, both in politics and social life, is the same -- hardihood. Give them raw truth.
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