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Comment by havelhovel | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious which lobbying group Paul Graham is referring to as "America's most powerful lobby." Here are the top ten, by spending, in the US as of 2023:

1. US Chamber of Commerce $49,970,000

2. National Assn of Realtors $33,661,316

3. Blue Cross/Blue Shield $21,634,765

4. Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America $21,043,000

5. American Hospital Assn $20,928,991

6. American Medical Assn $15,330,000

7. Amazon.com $14,970,000

8. Meta $14,640,000

9. Business Roundtable $13,490,000

10. CTIA $11,570,000

https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/top-spenders

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You here made a list of "American Lobbies" and down another list of "Foreign Lobbies," which is clever but desinginious.

He is talking about America's most powerful lobby FOR a foreign country. So this list is useless. Also, your second list only includes official foreign agents, while most pro-Israel lobbying is not registered as such (notably AIPAC).

I don't think that providing actual lists of top spenders is either "clever" or "disingenuous," but if you have a better way to empirically evaluate the claims being made about lobbying influence please share.

> He is talking about America's most powerful lobby FOR a foreign country.

I'm only interested in discussing the actual text that received (as of writing) 2.3 million views and is the subject of this thread, not your own revision.

> Also, your second list only includes official foreign agents, while most pro-Israel lobbying is not registered as such (notably AIPAC)

I was responding to a comment about the "Israeli lobby." Israelis are not Americans, which is why I addressed foreign spending. But since you're insinuating that AIPAC is a channel for foreign influence despite being a US organization with 3 million American members, changing its status wouldn't influence the list I provided, so I don't see the relevance of this argument to the larger question of lobbying power.

No he wasn't. He said "America's most powerful lobby". Not its most powerful lobby "FOR a foreign country". Words mean things!

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