The difference between corruption in developing countries and the U.S. lies in its scale and  sophistication.  Latin Americans, for example, have to deal with small levels of corruption in their daily lives, whether it is from the police who stop them for made up offenses or local politicians demanding bribes from small businesses.  But corruption in the U.S. is so large and so sophisticated that it is often hidden in plain sight.

Special interests use political connections to force American taxpayers to buy goods and services they would never purchase if left to themselves.  One man who both profits and has the inside political connections is Michael Chertoff, who headed the Department of Homeland Security under George W. Bush.  Chertoff was helping the American public to understand the threats to their safety today on Fox News after vague news of another underwear bomber was released by the government.  He appeared very serious and dour, obviously concerned over the grave dangers facing this country.

But wait:  it appears that Chertoff could benefit from the grave danger and resulting fear.  His consulting firm, the Chertoff Group, represents one of the makers of full body scanners.  An amazing coincidence.

The size of the U.S. prison population has been in the news recently, which brought to mind the story of the California prison guard union’s actions a few years ago.  They gave $1 million to defeat a measure that would have reduced marijuana possession sentences.  More people to guard means more guards.  And they are only number five on this list of lobbyists against marijuana decriminalization.

Any understanding of a modern economy under a managerial bureaucratic government such as that ruling the U.S.  must incorporate an analysis of this kind of corruption.  The American economy of today is greatly distorted by this kind of political rent seeking and the actions of the Federal Reserve in service of its Wall Street masters, whose power over government and the economy makes body scanners and prison guards look insignificant.  A great overview of the control that Wall Street banks have had over the U.S. government and the amazingly small circle of players involved in this control, over both Democrats and Republicans, is available in Murray Rothbard’s Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy.  This is a must read which serves as a guide to further research where the wars, assassinations, invasions, loans, the subsequent bailouts of the recipients of those loans by the American taxpayers, and foreign policy of the U.S. government are put in the analytical framework of who benefits from government actions.  Lenin’s “who-whom?” is alive and well in the USA, and we can see who is doing what to whom.