Tuesday, November 06, 2012

NY Sun: Election Spending Plunges Along With Value of Dollar

Again, the New York Sun gives a perspective worth thinking about:
While we’re waiting for the polls to close let us just reflect on an astonishing fact that is emerging as the newspapers and other analysts tot up the amount of money spent on the election. The figures from which we are doing our calculations are from Advertising Age. It turns out that the value of the outlays in the election that is ending today is estimated to have plunged to only 5.7 million ounces of gold from the value of 8.2 million ounces of gold that was sunk into the contest four years earlier. It’s not just the turnout that seems to be dropping. Its the value that people are placing on the whole process.

Oh, we understand that in terms of United States Federal Reserve notes, the spending on this election has soared, to what Ad Age estimates at $9.840 billion. There may be other estimates around; that is AdAges's. It is way up from the $6.981 billion that was spent four years earlier. The dollars that were sunk into the Obama-McCain contest, however, had a value of roughly twice the number of grains of gold as the dollars being lathered around in respect of the contest between President Obama and Governor Romney. One always has to keep this in mind. It’s not the spending on the election that is going up. It is the value of the dollar that is going down.

5 comments:

Ten Mile Island said...

I remember Peter Schiff's expression when Ron Insana told him that gold wasn't real money.
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T. D. said...

TMI, unfortunately, historical and practical ignorance is rampant among the chattering class.

MAX Redline said...

According to the National Retailers Association, Americans spent $8 billion on Halloween this year.

According to the Federal Elections Commission, the Presidential campaigns spent $2 billion.

This just goes to show you that it's possible to scare the hell out of people for a lot less money....

T. D. said...

Heh! But the $6 billion difference is because elections are much less fun and tasty.

MAX Redline said...

Certainly, our daughter would agree....