4 ms·

One thing I don't understand (possibly as a Canadian, possibly just as a conscious person) is how little it costs to bribe your highest-ranking politicians. Th

One thing I don't understand (possibly as a Canadian, possibly just as a conscious person) is how little it costs to bribe your highest-ranking politicians. The article suggests that tax filing is an $11B industry and that companies spend ~$6M lobbying your corrupt senators. The chair of the Ways and Means committee received ~$16k in donations from Intuit/H&R. Wait, what? Never mind how inexcusably transactional this political 69 sesh is... it's obviously table stakes for these people. What I can't process is that $11B of revenue only spent $6M to bribe these guys. Why not spend $100M? Why not spend X? Are the senators just selling themselves short? For perspective, $6M is like 10-12 totally normal homes on my totally normal suburban street. If I was in the business of bribing politicians, I would allocate a lot more than $16k to the chair of the committee. Just saying. At least send all of his grandkids to the Ivy Leagues.

Yetanfou 8y ago
> If I was in the business of bribing politicians, I would allocate a lot more than $16k to the chair of the committee. Just saying. At least send all of his grandkids to the Ivy Leagues. Why, that is classical supply and demand, Economics 101. If you can buy a service for $10, why would you pay $100? If $16,000 is enough to buy the chair of some committee you'd batter not pay her much more than $16,000 or the next time she comes around in some position where she has the power over some piece of legislation which might get in your way you'll have to dig deeper still. Not to mention the fact that your fellow lobbyists wouldn't like you for raising the going price of politicians, senators and committees and you'd be hard pressed to find another lucrative position in this market.
chronolitus 8y ago
Maybe we can't comprehend it, the same way that I can't comprehend, say prostituting myself for money. If I consider the prospect, it would have to be for ridiculous sums. Yet everyday people are selling themselves for - from my point of view - a pittance. I guess, if you're in the business of selling your principles (corrupt politician), you're suddenly competing with a wide pool of equally corrupt people, probably with cutthroat tendencies, who are willing to go cheaper than you and take your place? Could be that driven, principled, smart people are hard to find, but people willing to be corrupt politicians are dime a dozen and replaceable.
- peteforde 8y ago
  There's many different kinds of sex work, but the movie Indecent Proposal taught me that everyone has a price. My first question, if someone solicited me for prostitution, would be to clarify not how much but what would you like me to do? If you want me to sleep with your hot wife, my price is within reach. If you want me to be gangbanged in a public park, you probably can't afford it. All semantics aside, while I don't know anything about you, my gut tells me that most people would turn to prostitution with far less trauma both faster and more consistently than you might expect. In fact, it's really only the culture in the west that gets really uptight about pretending many romantic relationships aren't highly transactional. Plus, my hope is that good citizens would make money selling sex long before they sell the trust of their electorate. It's only a morally bankrupt crime that could in some cases be treasonous if you get caught, right?

Yetanfou 8y ago

> If I was in the business of bribing politicians, I would allocate a lot more than $16k to the chair of the committee. Just saying. At least send all of his grandkids to the Ivy Leagues. Why, that is classical supply and demand, Economics 101. If you can buy a service for $10, why would you pay $100? If $16,000 is enough to buy the chair of some committee you'd batter not pay her much more than $16,000 or the next time she comes around in some position where she has the power over some piece of legislation which might get in your way you'll have to dig deeper still. Not to mention the fact that your fellow lobbyists wouldn't like you for raising the going price of politicians, senators and committees and you'd be hard pressed to find another lucrative position in this market.

chronolitus 8y ago

Maybe we can't comprehend it, the same way that I can't comprehend, say prostituting myself for money. If I consider the prospect, it would have to be for ridiculous sums. Yet everyday people are selling themselves for - from my point of view - a pittance. I guess, if you're in the business of selling your principles (corrupt politician), you're suddenly competing with a wide pool of equally corrupt people, probably with cutthroat tendencies, who are willing to go cheaper than you and take your place? Could be that driven, principled, smart people are hard to find, but people willing to be corrupt politicians are dime a dozen and replaceable.

peteforde 8y ago
There's many different kinds of sex work, but the movie Indecent Proposal taught me that everyone has a price. My first question, if someone solicited me for prostitution, would be to clarify not how much but what would you like me to do? If you want me to sleep with your hot wife, my price is within reach. If you want me to be gangbanged in a public park, you probably can't afford it. All semantics aside, while I don't know anything about you, my gut tells me that most people would turn to prostitution with far less trauma both faster and more consistently than you might expect. In fact, it's really only the culture in the west that gets really uptight about pretending many romantic relationships aren't highly transactional. Plus, my hope is that good citizens would make money selling sex long before they sell the trust of their electorate. It's only a morally bankrupt crime that could in some cases be treasonous if you get caught, right?