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Notes -
Related 2014 SSC: Does Class Warefare Have A Free-Rider Problem?. There Scott argues that there is a collective action problem among the rich fighting for their common interests, e.g. low taxes.
Even today, the money which influences politics is mostly spent by individual private individuals or by companies held privately. (With the META PAC being a notable exception).
Also, I think that while "we are spending a few hundred million dollars of company funds on Trump to get on his good side and get juicy US gov contracts" is probably a solid business decision (even if it is not what Adam Smith had in mind), spelling out how that is profitable at the stockholder's meeting is likely to get the CEO in legal trouble. So the straightforward buying of influence is more of a strategy among tech billionaires and middle eastern autocrats than for publicly traded companies.
You say that but I was surprised to see that the list of donors to Donald Trump's new east wing ballroom includes most major tech companies: Amazon, Apple, Google, HP, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft.
These are all publicly held companies, and companies that I'd pegged as in the Democrat camp. Apparently that doesn't stop them from throwing some money Trump's way to stay on his good side.
The CEO won't have to spell it out at the stockholders meeting, because stockholders already understand how bribing the government benefits the company, and making that policy explicit can only harm the company, so they're not going to demand an explanation from the CEO. Tacit approval is clearly the best policy here.
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