Forum gossip thread

[Biggie Smiles]

For those times when our fairer friends across the pond dare to wear short shorts

and Muhammad approves !

[Herman]

I'm not taking sides here but I read your post after it was quoted by Aryan

I never even heard of AIPAC until I read your post but I figured "now here's a debate between two members and one is obviously wrong about whether or not this is a strong and influencial group, and it will be easy to figure out which".

A quick search turns out that that would be Herman

The more time I spend here the more I get the feeling that few if any of the regulars have any clue whatsoever about what they're talking about.

I only posted who the top ten lobbyists in Washington are. AIPAC did not make the top ten. Even I was surprised by that.

Are you saying my link is wrong?

[Herman]

This seems fishy. Where are the US defense controctor lobbyists on that list?

Did you know Chinese military companies have spent $8 million lobbying congress so far this year?

No, I did not know that.

Like I told wizer, I posted the top ten lobbyists. Even I was surprised by it.

If you two have dispute my link show me where it is was wrong.

[Herman]

I looked at another link about the biggest lobbyists in Washington by dollars spent and it aint much different from my original link. Maybe AIPAC is just getting better value for their money.

If you got different numbers offer them up.

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-influential-is-aipac
And so, in case you still believe, like Omar, that it's all about the Benjamins, here are some entities whose lobbying budgets far, far surpass that of AIPAC (all figures come from the Center for Responsive Politics' lobbying database):

The Top Ten:

US Chamber of Commerce: $94,800,000

National Association of Realtors: $72,808,648

Open Society Policy Center: $31,520,000

Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America: $27,989,250

American Hospital Association: $23,927,842

Business Roundtable: $23,160,000

Alphabet Inc.: $21,740,000

American Medical Association: $20,417,000

Blue Cross / Blue Shield: $18,754,221

AT&T Inc.: $15,820,000



Other Key Names in the Top 50 who have outpspent AIPAC last year:

Boeing Co.: $15,120,000

Comcast Corp.: $15,072,000

Amazon.Com: $14,400,000

Facebook Inc.: $12,620,000

Pfizer Inc.: $11,360,000

Exxon Mobil: $11,150,000

FedEx Corp: $10,170,000

National Amusements Inc.: $8,058,290

Anheuser-Busch InBev: $8,050,000

Toyota Motor Corp.: $7,150,453

Philip Morris International: $6,230,000

Recording Industry Association of America: $5,642,155

Association of International CPAs: $5,200,000

Entertainment Software Association: $5,020,000

All pro-Israel lobbying groups combined: $5,022,028

AIPAC alone: $3,518,028