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Doesn’t sound like it. I think the parent is more likely insinuating skepticism that hobos would be able to maintain their moral clarity after being given all t

Doesn’t sound like it. I think the parent is more likely insinuating skepticism that hobos would be able to maintain their moral clarity after being given all the power of a politician. Chris Rock has a great standup bit where he points out that you can’t really know how faithful a man is to his wife if the man has never had the opportunity to cheat. Celebrities are often in the news for cheating on their wives. This may not be an indication that they have any weaker morals than ordinary men, but rather simply that they have far more opportunities to cheat than ordinary men. How many ordinary, faithful men would make the same mistakes if suddenly given all the wealth and social status of George Clooney or whoever?

Clubber 9y ago
I see. That's a good analogy. I'm not sure I understand the driving force of political corruption though. Obviously with sex, it's natures very powerful sex drive. With corruption, if the politician is already wealthy, what's the point in soiling their self worth by being corrupt? Maybe it was corruption that got them wealthy in the first place. It seems like US politicians are plagued with it. I consider constant giveaways to the wealthy while mostly ignoring the majority of the population to be corruption, like this recent tax bill.
- manwe150 9y ago
  It is probably not always as simple, or even as logical, as that. For one anecdote, Planet Money did an interesting piece following the motivations of an inside trader: 671 - An Insider Trader Tells All (https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/23/596533461/episode-671-an-insider-trader-tells-all https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/23/596533461/epis...). As mieseratte says in another comment thread here, "it's not black and white as you paint it." What I'm saying is, that one of the (perhaps uncountably many) driving forces of corruption might be misplaced altruism – a few skilled con men who know how to present the right argument to persuade others. To hack their neural network, if you will. Or another answer might be: "why not? it was possible to do". Another recent episode to follow a similar line of investigation would be "Episode 685: Larry vs. The IRS".

Clubber 9y ago

I see. That's a good analogy. I'm not sure I understand the driving force of political corruption though. Obviously with sex, it's natures very powerful sex drive. With corruption, if the politician is already wealthy, what's the point in soiling their self worth by being corrupt? Maybe it was corruption that got them wealthy in the first place. It seems like US politicians are plagued with it. I consider constant giveaways to the wealthy while mostly ignoring the majority of the population to be corruption, like this recent tax bill.

manwe150 9y ago
It is probably not always as simple, or even as logical, as that. For one anecdote, Planet Money did an interesting piece following the motivations of an inside trader: 671 - An Insider Trader Tells All (https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/23/596533461/episode-671-an-insider-trader-tells-all https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2018/03/23/596533461/epis...). As mieseratte says in another comment thread here, "it's not black and white as you paint it." What I'm saying is, that one of the (perhaps uncountably many) driving forces of corruption might be misplaced altruism – a few skilled con men who know how to present the right argument to persuade others. To hack their neural network, if you will. Or another answer might be: "why not? it was possible to do". Another recent episode to follow a similar line of investigation would be "Episode 685: Larry vs. The IRS".