Re:How Silicon Valley's Palantir Wired Washington
by maxerickson on Sunday August 14, 2016 @12:07PM
(#12286103)
Maybe their intelligence is so good that they knew exactly which wheel to grease and that it didn't need a lot of grease.
More seriously, it's interesting to consider them turning their expertise against their customers.
Re:How Silicon Valley's Palantir Wired Washington
by nickpsecurity on Sunday August 14, 2016 @07:01PM
(#12287717)
Lobbying can get great returns if you target it well plus bring in people on defense side into your organization for "old boy network." I don't recall if Palantir does that but I wouldn't be surprised. Far as lobbying, to illustrate the ROI's achievable: oil companies spending tens of millions got billions (Solendra too with less); casino industry got $650 million in tax breaks donating around $3 mil to Nevada reps; banks probably put in tens of millions then got $1 trillion bailout; big defense contractors put in millions plus give Pentagon chiefs or acquisition folks six-figure salaries to get billions in return at good margins. Common stuff, my man. Nothing unusual with effective bribery, err corporate participation in democracy. ;)
Expected this number to be a lot higher as this seems to be the articles thesis: palantir aggressively outspent and outmaneuvered the traditional war contractors.
Also, given that palantir has secured $500m in gov contracts (1.2b*40%) the ROI on the ~$10m they've spent on lobbying is massive. I find it hard to believe that it accounts for a substantial portion of palantir's success.