$2,700

Here’s What $2,700 Can Buy in the Real World

By Adam Smith

In this amazing Washington Post story today on wealthy donors and bundlers feeling left out because they aren’t wealthy enough in the age of billionaire-funded super PACs, a Democratic fundraiser lamented, “But $2,700 won’t even get you a parking spot at a super PAC event.”

That amount, $2,700, is how much donors can give to political candidates in 2016 per election ($5,400 per cycle).

If the fundraiser’s comments sound out of touch, you’re right. Here are a few things $2,700 could buy in the real world.

 •$2,700 could pay for nine weeks of full time employment for a minimum wage worker making $7.25 an hour (before taxes and deductions).
 •$2,700 is just under two months of annual household income for the median family (based on U.S. Census Bureau Data)
 •$2,700 could pay for about four months of child care for a 4-year-old in Iowa (based on a 2012 report).
 •$2,700 could buy about three and a half years of car insurance in New Hampshire
 •$2,700 could buy about eight months of a “middle-tier” health insurance plan (on average).
 •$2,700 could pay for about five months of food for a family of four with young kids on a food plan the USDA calls “thrifty.”

In other words: our political system is crazy. Elite donors writing four- and five- figure checks and bundling $100,000 contributions think they are no longer elite enough, even though just a fraction of a percentage of Americans actually donate $200 or more to politics each cycle.

This has a very real impact on the policies that our elected officials adopt. You can’t help but be influenced by people you spend all your time with and if you’re only talking to the wealthiest among us, your opinions on what people care about will no doubt be skewed. Read Demos’ Stacked Deck for more on this.

It’s why we need a system like that in the Government By the People Act and the Fair Elections Now Act that would give everyday people a bigger voice in political process by allowing Congressional candidates to run for office on a mix of small donations, matching funds, and a tax credit on small donations. These public financing systems would put some much needed sanity–and reality–into our politics.