Transparency is the best disinfectant

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This book should be required reading for every American: Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends by Peter Schweizer (published 2018) is fascinating, astonishing and horrifying. It details, in a bipartisan way (neither party is unscathed), how extended family and friends of elected officials use private equity firms (exempt from certain reporting requirements) and a plethora of shell companies, allowing China and other foreign entities to gain substantial footholds into American real estate and access to industrial and military research information. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
 
Many friends close to the highest levels of power, and privy to future plans to regulate certain industries no longer in favor when a change of administration occurs, enrich themselves. A “smash and grab” transpires when a sudden onslaught of numerous new regulations and costly mandates squeeze a sector until the more vulnerable companies become greatly devalued. Buyers with close ties to the powerful enter the picture, snatching such companies up for pennies on the dollar, or they may choose to simply scoop up thousands of publicly traded shares at deeply discounted prices. Some of those targeted groups included for-profit colleges and fossil fuels. 

Sweetheart deals represent another form of opportunity for political class family member enrichment. These are lucrative deals doled out to children or close family members by foreign governments seeking to curry favor with their powerful relative, such as China and Ukraine.

Author Schweizer suggests, “Corruption is not a victimless crime. America needs a Washington Corrupt Practices Act molded after the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act...We must not tolerate public service as a front for family enrichments day elite will to power. Current ethics laws create a zero accountability zone for the Washington DC political class in general...we need to broaden financial disclosures by American politicians...Adult children of America’s political leaders could at least be required to disclose transactions above, at least, $150,000 a year...the Stop Trading on Confidential Information (STOCK) Act [needs to be tightened]...to deal explicitly with the smash and grab problem.”

Transparency is the best disinfectant, but it’s hard to be hopeful about expecting foxes to be effective policing their own hen house.

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