Replies to post #166070 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

"More generally, however, higher levels of political activity turn out to be correlated with lower company value."

[...]

"Why should this be the case? After all, the conventional wisdom is that companies are profit-maximizing machines that would only invest in politics if it were likely to make them more profitable. It's hard in a regression to isolate causation, but it seems likely that corporate political activity, like expensive toilets [ http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2009/01/23/deal-journal-explainer-the-35000-commode-outrage/ ] and shower curtains [ http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/manufacturing/2002-08-07-tyco-ceo-money_x.htm ], is a form of executive consumption that comes at the expense of shareholders.

For one thing, higher levels of political activity are correlated with weak shareholder governance"

your link .. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/citizens-united-turns-2-and-its-still-wrong/251706/