The latest scandal was as unexpected as the sunrise. Some birds have been indicted for paying bribes to get their hands on investments in New York State’s Pension Fund. One of President Obama’s major advisors may get caught up in this one.
It comes down to this. Let us say you are an investment manager. You would like some business from a state’s pension fund. You would like to manage some of the fund’s millions. For which you would collect a fee, of course.
Do you present your credentials? Do you show the pension people what superb gains you have made for other clients? Do you introduce your top people to impress the pension folks? Do you illustrate how brilliant your strategies have been? Nah. None of that matters much.
In most states you pay for the business. You bribe somebody. That is simply the way this type of business is done. The same is true with a lot of union pension money. The guys who get to manage it, and make the fees, are the guys who pay the bribes.
Are you shocked? If you were in the investment field you would not be. In that field you would soon learn such things.
Do you want to do a lot of business with the state? Do you want one of those no-bid contracts? Pay up. Write the check to whoever you are told to write the check to. Do not ask questions. Pay the money, here is your contract.
Do you want a job within the bureaucracy for your nephew? Grease the right palm.
Yes, we will see a few indictments here and there. Yes, we will send the odd guy to jail over these things. Usually he is somebody who crossed somebody. Otherwise he would have been left alone.
The prosecutors love to parade a few of these crooks before the cameras from time to time. Helps them look like evil-sniffing good guys. Helps them get re-elected.
Would you like a change in some regulations that would help you capture some major business here or overseas? Would you like some tinkering done with the tax code that would save you or your company many millions? Pay off the right politician. Donate to his charity. Or give big time to her campaign. Or stage a few big parties for the pol, maybe dinners at $5,000 a table.
