Government corruption has become rampant

Government corruption has become rampant:

Senior SEC employees spent up to 8 hours a day surfing porn sites instead of cracking down on financial crimes

Nuclear Regulatory Commission workers watch porn instead of cracking down on unsafe conditions at nuclear plants

An EPA employee who downloaded 7,000 porn files, then spent 2-6 hours each workday watching porn. He’s been doing it for years … but the EPA never fired him. Another EPA employee harassed 16 women co-workers … and then was promoted to a higher-paying job with more responsibility, where he harassed more women

NSA spies pass around homemade sexual videos and pictures they’ve collected from spying on the American people

the list goes on... and on: www.washingtonsblog.com...

The real problem is that we need to learn a little history:
- We’ve known for thousands of years that – when criminals are not punished – crime spreads
- We’ve known for hundreds of years that the failure to punish financial fraud destroys economies, as it destroys all trust in the financial system
- We’ve known for centuries that powerful people – unless held to account – will get together and steal from everyone else

-

It's "become" rampant?

a reply to: wasaka

Oxnard Cop Leaks Secret Police Ritual of Getting Gun and Skull Tattoo When They Shoot Someone
countercurrentnews.com...

Last Saturday, Meagan Hockaday was shot and killed by Oxnard police after officers were called to help calm down a domestic argument. The 26-year-old African-American mother of three, was said to be “holding” a knife, but there was no initial report that she had moved aggressively towards anyone. Just days after this shooting, a whistleblower in the Oxnard, California, Police Department came clean about a secret ritual that officers go through when the shoot someone: they get a tattoo of a gun and skull. Apparently, if officers shoot more than one person, they get additional tattoos every time they shoot and kill citizens “in the line of duty”

This is an old story. I remember listening to the radio guys snark about it not so long ago, and then they laughed even harder when they read that the government "solution" to the problem was to hire guys to watch the guys so they wouldn't spend their time surfing porn.

I remember. They were the ones who were supposed to be watchdogging the financial markets, you know to prevent the collapse that happened in 2008.

The main criticism was, aside from the fact that the bad mortgages were bundled allowing the collapse to happen under their noses, if they had so little work that they were so bored they wound up watching porn instead of working ... maybe we had more of them than we needed? So maybe the obvious solution (especially given the deficit the government runs each year) would be to fire officials until the workload was equal to the number you had and kept them busy through their day. Instead, they keep all their officials who are obviously underworked and bored and create a new position to make sure they don't do bad things with all the time they have on their hands without work ...

I don't know if corruption becoming rampant is the correct way to state this problem because it has de facto become the way they operate. They pass laws that allow them to make insider trading deals, to accept massive amounts of pay to play cash and laugh at us all for our inability to do anything about it. I have a rule that puts it all into perspective that says, "Just shut up and pay"! It is all we have left.

originally posted by: ketsuko
This is an old story. I remember listening to the radio guys snark about it not so long ago, and then they laughed even harder when they read that the government "solution" to the problem was to hire guys to watch the guys so they wouldn't spend their time surfing porn.

I remember. They were the ones who were supposed to be watchdogging the financial markets, you know to prevent the collapse that happened in 2008.

The main criticism was, aside from the fact that the bad mortgages were bundled allowing the collapse to happen under their noses, if they had so little work that they were so bored they wound up watching porn instead of working ... maybe we had more of them than we needed? So maybe the obvious solution (especially given the deficit the government runs each year) would be to fire officials until the workload was equal to the number you had and kept them busy through their day. Instead, they keep all their officials who are obviously underworked and bored and create a new position to make sure they don't do bad things with all the time they have on their hands without work ...

Hire guys to watch the guys - aka Managers?

1st...(the porn watchers at the SEC) this article is from april 2010, and it said that during the past 2 and 1/2 years, 31 out of 3500 employees were serious offenders, less than 1%...not exactly my definition of "rampant corruption"
2nd...the NRC article is from nov 2013, and it showed 3 employees, and by that time they were already disciplined.
3rd...the EPA article about the 1 employee how downloaded porn at work and watched it, was still under investigation according to the article...it never said that "the agency never fired him", he retired before they could.

I could go on, but the details are important...if you dig deep enough these few people are caught and dealt with....I say this, because there has been a perception that the title of this thread "GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION HAS BECOME RAMPANT"
is taken as the absolute truth, because ordinary people DON'T dig up the details, they rely on splashy headlines and/or catch-phrases to validate their own pre-conceived notions...and...the main and not-so-main stream media plays this like a finely tuned stradi violin
and for ATS members, we get the same crap thrown at us from people with a political agenda, or ones that need to validate their belief that the entire government is corrupt. divide, separate, repeat...divide, separate, repeat...etc.

Has become?

That's like saying a slug became slimy. No it's inert to slugs as corruption is to government.

I'll tell you the major turning point was the Iran/Contra affair. Failure to reach and convict the criminals behind it and the later pardoning by GHWBush of those involved who were convicted gave the green light to corruption. After that they knew even if they DID get caught it was a simple matter of putting together a bi-partisan committee to investigate the affair and subsequently get off scot free.

a reply to: jimmyx

Senators, Congressmen and Presidents all vie for jobs that pay what, 200-400k yet spend 200 billion running campaigns and the one who spends the most wins? Oh yes, and when they retire, (if they ever do), they are all multi-millionaires and billionaires. There is only one explanation for such accumulation of cash and that is corruption, rampant, legal corruption. I read a book this past Winter about one of my boyhood sports stars, Bart Starr who was and still is one of the most decent, caring man that ever existed as far as I can tell. He was once asked to consider a run for elected office:

Especially after he began campaigning for Richard Nixon’s successful White House run, speculation abounded that that Starr might soon quit football and run for office on the Republican ticket. GOP operatives approached him about running for the U.S. Senate. Like many Americans, he was troubled by the direction of the country….But Starr knew himself well enough to know he would never be happy as a politician, once telling a reporter, “The very nature of the system requires you to call on people to donate to your campaign to get elected, and when you do that you have lost your independence and are no longer your own man…I couldn’t compromise my principles that way.”

Unfortunately for America, they are plenty of whores who can.

originally posted by: ketsuko
This is an old story. I remember listening to the radio guys snark about it not so long ago, and then they laughed even harder when they read that the government "solution" to the problem was to hire guys to watch the guys so they wouldn't spend their time surfing porn.

I remember. They were the ones who were supposed to be watchdogging the financial markets, you know to prevent the collapse that happened in 2008.

The main criticism was, aside from the fact that the bad mortgages were bundled allowing the collapse to happen under their noses, if they had so little work that they were so bored they wound up watching porn instead of working ... maybe we had more of them than we needed? So maybe the obvious solution (especially given the deficit the government runs each year) would be to fire officials until the workload was equal to the number you had and kept them busy through their day. Instead, they keep all their officials who are obviously underworked and bored and create a new position to make sure they don't do bad things with all the time they have on their hands without work ...

I believe in the documentary "Inside Job" narrated by Matt Dillon, there was a piece that explained only 1 person was working for the SEC Risk Management at the time of the collapse. I think there was a of his office that is stuck in my mind. Files stacked to the ceiling. I don't think that particular department was being wasteful with public dollars. That department was castrated. I would probably watch porn all day too if someone dumped that crap on me lol.

originally posted by: jimmyx
1st...(the porn watchers at the SEC) this article is from april 2010, and it said that during the past 2 and 1/2 years, 31 out of 3500 employees were serious offenders, less than 1%...not exactly my definition of "rampant corruption"
2nd...the NRC article is from nov 2013, and it showed 3 employees, and by that time they were already disciplined.
3rd...the EPA article about the 1 employee how downloaded porn at work and watched it, was still under investigation according to the article...it never said that "the agency never fired him", he retired before they could.

I could go on, but the details are important...if you dig deep enough these few people are caught and dealt with....I say this, because there has been a perception that the title of this thread "GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION HAS BECOME RAMPANT"
is taken as the absolute truth, because ordinary people DON'T dig up the details, they rely on splashy headlines and/or catch-phrases to validate their own pre-conceived notions...and...the main and not-so-main stream media plays this like a finely tuned stradi violin
and for ATS members, we get the same crap thrown at us from people with a political agenda, or ones that need to validate their belief that the entire government is corrupt. divide, separate, repeat...divide, separate, repeat...etc.

Wait... are you suggesting that governments are NOT corrupt? And are you using the OP NOT hitting the nail on the head to pass YOUR political agenda that there is no such thing as corrupt government?

The governments of most people on this board ARE corrupt but this topic does not go very far to expose that. That to me is ok. Your attempt to exploit that to pass your own pro-government stance is rather tasteless.

a reply to: jimmyx

Thinking that they all get caught and dealt with is just stilly. It's as silly as advancing the idea all cops who break the law are dealt with appropriately.

And that statement is coming from a cop.

I personally know a spook that has multiple DUIs, including at least one ON government property IN a government vehicle and not only still has a job, but has all of his clearances and was not disciplined in any way, shape, or form for the on property DUI.

a reply to: Shamrock6

bro's have his back at work.....

a reply to: EA006

Wasn't even his peers. He got pulled over and somebody a couple levels above him (read: management) showed up and told the on-site PD to let him go. So not only was he not arrested or charged, his manager forced the PD to allow him to drive home.

The excuse was the poor man had already been taken off one posting before he got sent to that "location" and wasn't handling his divorce well and missed his kids and gee this would really be a career killer for him guys lets be nice!

Idiots. And people think "it gets handled." Seriously? Pfft.

The examples cited in the OP are really just symptoms of the problem of no accountability in government. Why would the lower echelon in these bureaucracies feel it necessary to conduct themselves appropriately, when those in charge abuse the system and believe themselves to be above reproach of The People they are supposed to serve?

None of the Secret Service incidents were mentioned, but are prime examples of the systemic problem, the fault of which, ultimately, lies with The People. congress maintains an approval rating of less than 20%, yet the establishmentarians in congress are kept in power by an ignorant voting populace.

a reply to: wasaka

Ripe for revolution and the government knows it. That's why they are preparing.

Poor saps hope to win LOL

Well, they shouldn't be doing it at work but this just sounds like an attack on porn to me. Sounds like someone set out to specifically associate watching porn with being a bad person.

a reply to: Shamrock6

You know, if you catch a business using pirated software licensing and report them, if they get audited and fail you can get huge cash rewards for the tip.

Why can't you get that management audited?

Oh, right, because the system is broken all the way to the top.

a reply to: ketsuko

It's a little less sinister than that. It's not that the government watchdogs are lazy, it's that it's in their interest to not work and the problem isn't one that's easy to solve. Let me ask you a question, if you were going to regulate an industry who would you want doing it? The answer the government has come up with is using industry professionals because they know how the business operates, the details of how/why things work, and the day to day operations. An outsider wouldn't know these things and therefore would likely destroy the industry with their oversight.

If you followed the Net Neutrality threads here you should be well aware of the stat thrown around that the top lobbyist for the ISP's was the former FCC chairman, and the current FCC chairman was the former top lobbyist. The same thing happens in the financial industry. Because these regulatory positions are appointed by the executive branch the personnel change with every presidential administration. This means that it is impossible to be a career regulator, one must become established in an industry making it their career, then regulate for 4-8 years, and then... go back to their industry. If the regulator passes legislation that the companies hiring them don't like, they won't have a job.

Most of our current regulators at the Fed for example come from Goldman Sachs and after their regulatory jobs will return to Goldman Sachs. This means that Goldman Sachs can effectively tell the regulators who are supposed to provide oversight what to do.

No one that I'm aware of has come up with a solution to this paradox. If we reduce oversight there is no regulation, monopolies form, and competition disappears. If we increase oversight we create career regulators who are effectively just bureaucrats that run a persons business for them which isn't a good thing either.