MONEY CAN BUY ANYTHING ON PLANET POSNER

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IT WAS BETTER FOR MIKE BLOOMBERG
TO SPEND HIS OWN MONEY ON ELECTION
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Mike Bloomberg

There are only a few things money cannot buy and, with the exception of good health, (but money can help stave off death for a while with expensive health care) if one cannot buy it who would want it anyway? There will be people screaming as they read this that money cannot buy love, happiness, and other sentimental stuff, but they are wrong. We all have a price—it is just determining that price that separates greedy people from altruistic people. I am an admitted greedy person. Anyone who says that money cannot buy almost anything has no money. Because they have no money, they don’t know that you can buy anything for the right price because they have never had the opportunity to try it. People with money know they can buy anything—because they have done it. Since the world is populated with more people who don’t have money than those who do, the myth is perpetuated that money can’t buy everything. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was elected for a third term as Mayor of New York last week and he spent $100 million to achieve that goal. That worked out to $157.27 per vote. His rival, William Thompson, spent $13.12/vote. Bloomberg is a billionaire and he spent his own money. It is his money to spend and he can spend it anyway he wants to. He also donates millions to charitable and civic organizations, so no one can accuse him of “wasting” all of his money on a political campaign. He has plenty to spend on whatever he wants to spend it on. He earned the money; he can choose how to spend the money. The only people who complain that it is not fair for a candidate to try to “buy” an election are people without money. I don’t understand why they would rather choose a candidate who raised money from special interest groups-- who they then would have to pander to--instead of choosing someone who put up their own personal cash. In a Tribune newspaper story in reference to a candidate using their own money, political consultant Darry Sragow said, "You don't have to attend one endless fundraiser after another, shifting from one foot to the other, eating hors d'oeuvres you don't really need, having conversations you don't really want to have, all so people will give you money to pay for advertising." This statement underscores the contempt and resentment that poorly self-funded candidates have against the very people who are giving them money! The phrase, “put your money where your mouth is,” is exactly what Bloomberg did. He wanted to be Mayor of New York for another term and he bought it with his own money. He is my idol. It might have been a lot of cash to spend to be the person who gets to turn the switch that lights the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center but with all his money, maybe it will be a Menorah instead this year.
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Photo By: James Edstrom