The Basics

How can billionaires try to shape public policy?

Our video explains the legal mechanisms: Electioneering, lobbying and advocacy, opinion shaping and philanthropy.
With corruption, influence becomes illegal.
Our glossary explains the key terms.

22 April 2019 - Karl Evers-Hillstrom

Just three months into the 2020 cycle, two dozen individuals have already given $200,000 or more to [...]

22 April 2019 - Raymond Arke

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), an Iraq War veteran, entered the 2020 presidential primary on Monday br [...]

19 April 2019 - Raymond Arke

We reached out to each of the 21 major Democratic and Republican candidates about whether or not the [...]

18 April 2019 - Anna Massoglia

New records reveal foreign influence operations targeting the U.S. allegedly intended to elevate the [...]

18 April 2019 - Karl Evers-Hillstrom and Raymond Arke

Special counsel Robert Mueller considered bringing campaign finance charges to Trump campaign offici [...]

23 April 2019

As online-only banks spread, so are the frauds pretending to be one, with the sole purpose of steali [...]

23 April 2019

Also known as yellow grease, it's one of the renewable components of biodiesel — and it's [...]

22 April 2019

Set for a Friday public launch, the $2,000 foldable smartphone will undergo more tests instead [...]

23 April 2019

Happiest place on Earth may not be so happy for its 200,000 lesser-paid employees, Walt Disney' [...]

22 April 2019

The senator says wiping out college debt could create an "enormous middle-class stimulus." [...]

22 April 2019 - KATE CONGER and DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI

Two Google workers who called for an employee protest over the company’s treatment of sexual harassm [...]

22 April 2019 - JIM TANKERSLEY and ALAN RAPPEPORT

Mr. Cain withdrew in the face of allegations of sexual harassment, even as Mr. Moore, the president’ [...]

18 April 2019 - ANA SWANSON

A government study challenges the president’s claims that the proposed North American trade pact mak [...]

17 April 2019 - JIM TANKERSLEY

The move lays out criteria for the program after some critics said it risked funneling money to real [...]

17 April 2019 - ALAN RAPPEPORT

The choice of Ms. Crowley for the Treasury’s top communications role comes about two years after she [...]