(Note: I meant to type "$700,000" in Nigeria, below, not "$700.) Oh, non-perceptive one, I seek to enlighten you. While the payment for bribery normally is thought of as occurring _before_ (or during) the payback desired, as a practical matter it isn't very practical to bribe an American president while he is in office. But since the office of President will continue to exist, and the people who are inclined to get favors will continue to exist, and they all know this (see 'game theory'), a logical solution is to delay the bribe payment until the office-holder is out of office. Obviously, while a president may wonder what would motivate a briber to actually pay the bribe after he leaves office, the reality is (remember reality?) is that word of welshing will surely get back to the subsequent office-holder(s), poisoning the well for the almost-but-not-quite-briber in the future. No doubt, for example, America's First Muslim President will pick up tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars doing the rubber-chicken circuit in the (Muslim) Middle-east. Do you wonder why Obama hasn't 'jawboned' the Arab oil producers to drop oil prices to, say, $60 per barrel? Do you wonder why he hasn't made more threats to open up the spigots of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Or why he hasn't approved the construction of the Keystone oil pipeline? That's right: Obama is carrying-water for the very people he expects to be bribed by about 3.5 years hence. Jim Bell
________________________________ From: Al Billings <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>; Jim Bell <[email protected]>; Guido Witmond <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:29 AM Subject: Re: bitcoin as a global medium of exchange (was Re: Interesting take on Sanjuro's Assassination Market) What do you bribe an ex-president (out of office since the millennium) to do for you when lecturing? ________________________________ From: Jim Bell Jim Bell Reply: Jim Bell [email protected] Date: November 26, 2013 at 10:26:25 AM To: Guido Witmond [email protected], [email protected] [email protected] Subject: Re: bitcoin as a global medium of exchange (was Re: Interesting take on Sanjuro's Assassination Market) Look what has happened to Bill Clinton after leaving office. It's said he's worth $100 million (In USD, presumably). Mostly this comes in the form of 'speaking fees': As much as $700 in Nigeria. This is not-so-thinly-disguised bribery. One solution that would slow him down would be a 95% tax rate on an ex-president's income, at least that above $400,000 per year. -- Al Billings http://makehacklearn.org
