The role of money in the 2012 election has long been decried. And new reports show the 2012 presidential campaign cost more than $2 billion. Overall campaign spending this year was a record-breaking $6 billion.
That sounds like big money — which got me curious. Turns out, Americans spend way more on other stuff. A few examples of yearly expenditures from the most recent Census data:
Americans spent $41.8 billion on amusement parks, campgrounds, and related recreational activities in a single year.
We also spent $10.4 billion going to the movies.
And we spent $32.7 billion on memberships to clubs or sports centers.
And that’s not even spending on vices. Americans spent $91.6 billion in a year going out for drinks, and we spent $109.3 billion gambling.
You’ll be interested to find that even this pales in comparison with the stimulus spending Obama wants to include in the debt deal — that’s $255 billion. And our election spending is way, way, way less than the $1 trillion-plus in deficit spending Obama has presided each of his years in office.
What do you think, readers? Are Americans overspending on presidential elections?