Richard Curran: Joe Biden or Donald Trump, whoever wins the US presidency will owe it all to their billionaire backers

Cartoon: Graeme Keyes

Richard Curran

Becoming the president of the United States carries a multi-billion-dollar price tag. That price is going up, leaving candidates more compromised than ever. US political advertising is expected to exceed $10bn (€9.2bn) this year.

The future of the world’s most powerful nation relies on an electoral system that is completely broken. To put it in perspective, presidential campaign financing in 1991-1992, in the run-up to Bill Clinton’s first term, topped $346m. When Donald Trump won in 2016, the total spent had hit $1.53bn.