Tuesday, November 2, 2010

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Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
Keynesian economics (pronounced /ˈkeɪnziən/, also called Keynesianism and Keynesian theory) is a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian economics argues that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes and therefore advocates active policy responses by the public sector, including monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government to stabilize output over the business cycle.[1]

election day

Most people who pay attention to the U.S. election system can gather at least a vague sense that something is systemically wrong with the process by which we choose our elected officials.

Serious efforts have been made over the past few presidential election cycles to reform campaign finance regulations, and significant cases have been decided by the U.S. Supreme Court that affect how much money can be accepted from donors such as corporations.

I think most people can agree that the biggest problem is the amount of money needed to fund a successful campaign. This year Meg Whitman spent $140 million of her own money to run for governor in California and she may not even get within ten points of her opponent.

By following the trail of money, we can see that the vast majority of campaign expenditures are on television ads. Election seasons are an advertising cash cow for media companies, especially television conglomerates, and especially in close elections, where both sides spend as much advertising money as they are able to collect from donors and political action committees.

But more people are getting their news information online every day, and in ten years, television may no longer be the primary medium of influence in advertising, political or otherwise.

Savvy campaign strategists now aim for their advertisements to go "viral" on the internet, which means that people voluntarily share the advertisements with friends and family due to their effectiveness or for their humor. This has a multiplying effect on the return on investment for the candidate in terms of money spent on creating the ad.



Today, television stations still act as the gatekeeper of ultimate political influence and power through their unmatched ability to broadcast the candidates' message into voters' minds. Newer media strategists will replace the television station as the next gatekeepers, but since every single candidate has the tools available (comparatively inexpensive computers, instead of broadcast towers) to potentially create an effective advertisement to relay their message through the internet, campaigns may soon be less about donations and more about ideas.