Billionaire Political Contributions

Sheldon Adelson cares a fair amount about politics in this country like a lot of people, but unlike a lot of people he has reported net worth of around $28 billion. Adelson, who made his money as the gambling mogul behind Las Vegas Sands, was also generous with his contributions, which totaled around $150 million to various Republican campaigns around the country. In this this article it is shown that Adelson also tried to hide the total amount of his political contributions though giving to non profits who don't have to disclose donors.

While looking at these contributions in terms of utility it would lead us to assume Adelson values political action higher than other ways he could spend his fortune. However, I think the secretive aspect may change this somewhat. I think it may be more applicable to look at the contributions through the lens of rent seeking. During our rent seeking game in class, what made it hard to determine our strategy was the uncertainty of how much everyone else was spending. I think this might have been the situation Adelson was trying to create in the elections. If no one knows how much money is being shoveled in and from where, and in this case it was a very large amount, they may be tempted to be conservative therefore not inducing another heavy weight billionaire to compete with Adelson in Democrat contributions.

And the rent being sought? My best guess would be continuation of lower, Bush-era tax cuts on dividends (the source of much of Adelson's income as the largest shareholder of Las Vegas Sands) and the estate tax. When you've got $28 billion, a few percentage points here and there are worth a lot more than $150 million