4 ms·

> Corporate executives frequently go in to politics, and when politicians retire they often get cushy, high paying jobs This can explained by some benign reaso

> Corporate executives frequently go in to politics, and when politicians retire they often get cushy, high paying jobs This can explained by some benign reasons: both political and management jobs require similar skillsets, like leadership, charisma, speaking publicly and so on. So it makes sense that same people could do both. Furthermore, if a political position involves regulating a certain industry, a person taking it has to have expertise in that industry, which further makes it more approachable for people from the industry.

aaronsimpson 4y ago
Not enough people realize this. I was reading Obama's memoir recently and he mentioned this exact concept during the financial crisis, where everyone wanted him to publicly skewer the big banks and talk trash on their CEOs. The problem is, those same big banks are (1) the ones he's trying to convince to re-invest back into the market and stimulate the economy and (2) probably the ones most knowledgable on how to rebuild and fix the financial sector. It's not corruption any more than the NFL hiring Peyton Manning as commissioner would be "corruption"
- hvs 4y ago
  It becomes corruption when government regulators do things favorable to an industry and then shortly after take cushy positions in said industry. Regulatory capture is a very real thing and, IMO, a much bigger reason for modern problems of governance than "government bad" or "corporations bad".
- mindslight 4y ago
  > (2) probably the ones most knowledgable on how to rebuild and fix the financial sector They're only knowledgeable about how to "fix" the financial sector back to business as usual, essentially doubling down on the problematic paradigm that will blow up at a later date. That's a large chunk of the corruption - highly biased policies normalized as unquestionable objective advice.

aaronsimpson 4y ago

Not enough people realize this. I was reading Obama's memoir recently and he mentioned this exact concept during the financial crisis, where everyone wanted him to publicly skewer the big banks and talk trash on their CEOs. The problem is, those same big banks are (1) the ones he's trying to convince to re-invest back into the market and stimulate the economy and (2) probably the ones most knowledgable on how to rebuild and fix the financial sector. It's not corruption any more than the NFL hiring Peyton Manning as commissioner would be "corruption"

hvs 4y ago
It becomes corruption when government regulators do things favorable to an industry and then shortly after take cushy positions in said industry. Regulatory capture is a very real thing and, IMO, a much bigger reason for modern problems of governance than "government bad" or "corporations bad".
mindslight 4y ago
> (2) probably the ones most knowledgable on how to rebuild and fix the financial sector They're only knowledgeable about how to "fix" the financial sector back to business as usual, essentially doubling down on the problematic paradigm that will blow up at a later date. That's a large chunk of the corruption - highly biased policies normalized as unquestionable objective advice.