Buying In, Selling Out

Former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, is honestly befuddled. Despite being let-off by a deadlocked jury, federal prosecutors still intend to try and convict him for bribery. And he's not the only one. As lawyer, Scott Turow, points out in his NYTimes Op-ed , thanks to the Supremes barefaced decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a virtual endorsement of corporate corruption, the bribing of public officials is now simply the way that business is done. Call it greasing the wheels of commerce. What poor Governor Blago is apparently too dense to understand is that while it may be common practice we must just not say it out loud.

For instance, consider this: the Washington Post reports that three out of every four lobbyists who represent oil and gas companies previously worked in the federal government. And not just anywhere in government. They are mostly lawmakers from oil-producing states. Fifteen of the 18 former members of Congress who now lobby for oil and gas firms are from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma or Kansas. After blasting the Obama administration for wanting to halt off shore drilling in light of the BP disaster, Louisiana Gov. Mary Landrieu hightailed it to her annual "Crawfish Fest" fundraiser, hosted by (among others) seven oil industry lobbyists -- six of whom previously worked on Capitol Hill. But it would impolitic to impugn the good Governor's integrity. Despite the $17,000 her campaign received in '08 Ms. Landrieu insists she is not the oil industry's handmaiden.

Bad for Business

According to Forbes magazine laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act are just more make-work for lawyers: "companies can find themselves getting extorted in foreign lands, only to get extorted again by Washington." So sad, so sad. Money would flow so much more freely if the public wasn't so damn squeamish. As any modern day Republican or free market Democrat will tell you, regulations just gum-up the works and end up hurting the little guy. I mean we can see how well bribery and extortion has worked out for Africa. Thanks to benevolent oil company largesse Sudan can now boast an endless supply of well-funded war-lords, see-no-evil politicians and a war-torn landscape increasingly unable to sustain human life. For the companies cashing in it means added annual profits in the billions of dollars. As Fatal Transactions reports: in Sudan, roughly 25% of total production value disappears out of the country.




Conflict Zone Darfur Region

Now neighboring Chad finds that the blessings of oil has left it mired in poverty and violence, in no small part, for having had the gall to spurn the U.S. in favor of China. In other words, China's presence means Africa's internecine conflicts are no longer minor proxy wars between the U.S. and France, their politicians expect the bribes to be more than gestures. Without a Berlin Wall in place bribery is now just part of the deal. And as any good governor knows, the higher the stakes the more it takes, governance be damned.

But hey, that's Africa's problem ... it can't happen here ...