Proactive corruption

I have only been to Russia once, to report on some very brave people who were fighting for democracy and against corruption. It was then that I first came face to face with the full scale of proactive corruption.

That is not just taking a cut or bribe off existing economic activity but diverting spending and money into areas of the economy where you are better able to take an illegal cut. Third world countries ordering massive weapons system they are completely incapable of using, maintaining or affording but which offer huge bribes is a classic example.

In Russia they have gone one step further, when the cut for the town hall in property transactions got too much many people stopped selling their homes and just swapped houses. The mayor and town clerk noticed their falling income and so sent the totally corrupt tax police in to accuse such home owners of fraud and amazingly their corrupt earnings soared.

It says something about the level and extent of corruption of America under Trump that he has gone from selling dodgy watches and bibles to idiot supporters to proactive corruption, in just a few years.

Threatening mergers for donations, defending foreign countries for kick backs, building monuments to his greatness but only with construction firms who pay him for the privilege, and insisting that his family private equity and crypto funds are backed by those who want his and America’s support. His son in law is even front of the queue to take a stake in FIFA.

The problem is not so much ending corruption. If Trump is replaced with a decent man that will naturally follow and Trump’s attempts to pardon anyone and everyone he wants to (thanks to the Supreme Court for that appalling decision) will doubtless fail, but not for his immediate family and friends.

The problem is getting that money back and the damage that corruption does to the body politic.

As the PPE scandal in the UK found even in a medium sized economy you can steal £10 billion easily and get away with it. The covid loans scandal cost the British government even more and no one has even been charged, as far as I can tell.

Corruption is becoming hardwired into the American system as it is in Russia, and the political damage is already huge. Many think all politicians are corrupt, and despair.

Many will see the powerful getting richer and more powerful and give up on democracy and back the strong men in the hope of a share of the loot. Vast government resources will be moved from the needy to the greedy. Billionaires will back whoever can make them trillionaires, using a small percentage of their wealth to rig the media and buy votes.

All this is happening now.

A fish rots from the head and America stinks.

Jonty’s Jotting

From Jonty Bloom Media Ltd

Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.