Geoffrey MillerVerified account

The best way to buy them is with jobs for their family and for them when they leave office. Just a guess, but I bet over $1 billion has been given by investment banks to politicians and top staff responsible for the 2008 Wall Street Bailout.

The annual Coca-Cola marketing budget is greater than the money spent on a presidential election

I'm not so sure about this - in fact, this low allocation to lobbying might indicate a good thing - that the returns diminish quickly as you spend more. If lobbying was super effective for the purchasers, you would expect a much bigger percentage of revenue spent.

Do we know the efficiency? Maybe it is cheap because they don't stay bought, or because they often doesn't have much effect?

1) Democracy should be designed to maximize incentive alignment. (using morality & shaming etc.) 2) The multiple branches etc, should be there to create diverging self interests. reducing corruption. 3) Obviously many are not purely motivated by cash.

Incentives are there. A study found $1 in lobbying for tax break US firms got avg returns of $220. Cited from book myth of capitalism.

#TullockParadox The low cost v high gain of #rentseeking https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rent-seeking#Tullock_paradox …

Congressional term limits I think would drive them up. Now they can spread their graft over decades, if term limits are passed they will have to collect it sooner and more aggressively.

It’s a major design flaw

There is a motion to change the name of the Senate Chambers to the Boudoir. Honesty in politics and all that.