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> This is not new. Nothing under the sun is new, but we do currently live in a time with unprecedented levels of open corruption where nobody seems to feel the

> This is not new. Nothing under the sun is new, but we do currently live in a time with unprecedented levels of open corruption where nobody seems to feel the slightest amount of guilt for clearly immoral behavior as long as they get away with it. And even in cases where what you do is explicitly illegal legal enforcement is largely contingent on whether or not whatever corrupt thing you did made you rich enough to pay the Get Out of Jail tax.

HFguy 4mo ago
I suspect it is higher than it was 20 years ago and significantly lower than it was 100 years ago.
margalabargala 4mo ago
> unprecedented levels of open corruption where nobody seems to feel the slightest amount of guilt as long as they get away with it. Historically speaking, current levels of corruption in most of the world are either low, or completely precedented. In the US specifically, corruption may be higher the last decade than in the couple of decades precloud, but certainly is not as high as 120 years ago.
- danaris 4mo ago
  I'm sorry, at what point in the late 1800s was the President of the US actively enriching himself at the taxpayers' expense, openly taking bribes from foreign countries, and threatening the families of members of Congress who he felt were not sufficiently supportive of his agenda?
  - defrost 4mo ago
    Offhand, Ulysses S. Grant had a scandal ridden presidency (1869 - 1877) with multiple large scale corruption examples all headed by his closest associates. There was some goings on related to foreign territories and annexation that I don't well recall, but to this day Grant's degree of involvement is debated - he tolerated much corruption from his personal secretary, defended him, and steered corruption investigations away until eventually removing Babcock(?) from his post. Much pressure was exerted during this period, I hazard some of that pressure was via threats to persons, their assets, and perhaps their families. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_of_the_Grant_administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_of_the_Grant_administ...
  - margalabargala 4mo ago
    Grant was already mentioned, but Warren Harding most certainly deserves to be alongside Grant and Trump on any list of "most corrupt presidents". The general amount of corruption in local politics was also greater pre-depression than now.

HFguy 4mo ago

I suspect it is higher than it was 20 years ago and significantly lower than it was 100 years ago.

margalabargala 4mo ago

> unprecedented levels of open corruption where nobody seems to feel the slightest amount of guilt as long as they get away with it. Historically speaking, current levels of corruption in most of the world are either low, or completely precedented. In the US specifically, corruption may be higher the last decade than in the couple of decades precloud, but certainly is not as high as 120 years ago.

danaris 4mo ago
I'm sorry, at what point in the late 1800s was the President of the US actively enriching himself at the taxpayers' expense, openly taking bribes from foreign countries, and threatening the families of members of Congress who he felt were not sufficiently supportive of his agenda?
- defrost 4mo ago
  Offhand, Ulysses S. Grant had a scandal ridden presidency (1869 - 1877) with multiple large scale corruption examples all headed by his closest associates. There was some goings on related to foreign territories and annexation that I don't well recall, but to this day Grant's degree of involvement is debated - he tolerated much corruption from his personal secretary, defended him, and steered corruption investigations away until eventually removing Babcock(?) from his post. Much pressure was exerted during this period, I hazard some of that pressure was via threats to persons, their assets, and perhaps their families. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_of_the_Grant_administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandals_of_the_Grant_administ...
- margalabargala 4mo ago
  Grant was already mentioned, but Warren Harding most certainly deserves to be alongside Grant and Trump on any list of "most corrupt presidents". The general amount of corruption in local politics was also greater pre-depression than now.