alt Hacker NewsOnly "multi-million"?
Someone once told me about being a new journalist, on the city beat. They said something like: I wasn't surprised to find that bribery was going on; I was just surprised the bribes were so small.
Only "multi-million"?
Someone once told me about being a new journalist, on the city beat. They said something like: I wasn't surprised to find that bribery was going on; I was just surprised the bribes were so small.
Someone always makes this kind of comment and I've always found it being pretty middle-brow. I think there's a classic comment that the USA spends more on potato chips than on lobbying.
I think the best explanation is that there's a pushing a rope phenominum where there's still a limit on the amount of money the American political corruption system can absorb.
We have long had robust laws that prevent people outright paying for political or regulatory outcomes (which used to be much stronger under honest services). We also had robust laws limiting the amount of campaign contributions.
As that system has been torn down, we've seen the amount of money flowing in increase.