Scary spending

A figure I came across tonight suddenly put American spending on elections into a frightening context. We Brits tend to think US politicians raise and spend a scarily absurd amount to get themselves elected. In an earlier blog I mentioned the total had reached more than $1bn for both Republicans and Democrats combined on these
mid-terms. A lot to obtain a satisfactory result on 7 November. Well perhaps not.

Guess how much Americans will spend exactly a week earlier on an equally horrible occasion populated by some equally scary characters. Yes you guessed it - I'm talking about Halloween. Well, according to the National Retail Foundation, Americans will spend more than $4.95bn - yes billion - on costumes, candy, cards and decorations -that's five times more than they spend on democracy. Now that really is scary!