[phaster]

Just got done binging on "house of cards" season 2 and it got me thinking how much does corruption cost the economy, any ideas?

In my own neck of the woods, it seems there is lots of "corruption" and back room politics; for example just last month there was a story about a mexican national trying trying to buy political influence in the USA

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/Jan/22/san-diego-campaign-finance-scandal/

but unlike in the netflex world, there is very little knowledge or interest in what is happening

Hope I'm wrong in my financial assessment, but I think the next big problem in the economy is going to have its epicenter in California because there is lots of political and economic mis-management, apparent disregard for the law, no savings and now a drought.

In the netflex "political" world, frank underwood was competent. In the real world all the politicians seem to be deluded bad performance art actors who don't want to take any responsibility! As proof check out the last "pervert" mayor



who was forced out of office, and therefore a special election was needed and it seems no one wanted to address the big elephant in room of unfunded "pension" programs in the 8 billion dollar range

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2013/oct/24/ticker-san-diego-mayoral-debate-canceled/

http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2013/oct/24/ticker-san-diego-mayoral-race-whoppers/

long story short this city is broke

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/if-stockton-is-broke-then-why-isn-t-san-diego-steven-greenhut.html

but it seems costs keep piling up!! For example a news paper article a few days ago stated "San Diego’s stormwater bill: $4 billion"

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/feb/17/san-diego-billion-stormwater-cost-shocker/

BTW a few years ago CNBC had a documentary also called "house of cards" which outlines what caused the "housing" economy which caused the crash, if ya have not seen it before figured I'd link to it:

http://www.4shared.com/file/87832866/f768c473/house_of_cards_part_1.html

http://www.4shared.com/file/87844492/e9cc660d/house_of_cards_part_2.html

[Sixstrings]

I just watched House of Cards too.

It's a very good WARNING for how bad things could actually get. I've been posting a lot about Russia and such -- in Russian politics, journalists really have gotten killed.

Things are not that bad here. Corruption is a sliding scale. We don't want it to get worse. We never want it to go from Chris Christie shutting a bridge down to Nixonian type outright criminality. Or journalists getting hit jobs on them, like what goes on in latin america and such.

Let's hold the line in this country and not get worse and keep our rule of law and throw the book at corruption whenever it pops up.

[phaster]

I just watched House of Cards too.

It's a very good WARNING for how bad things could actually get. I've been posting a lot about Russia and such -- in Russian politics, journalists really have gotten killed.

Things are not that bad here. Corruption is a sliding scale. We don't want it to get worse. We never want it to go from Chris Christie shutting a bridge down to Nixonian type outright criminality. Or journalists getting hit jobs on them, like what goes on in latin america and such.

Let's hold the line in this country and not get worse and keep our rule of law and throw the book at corruption whenever it pops up.

In a past life I manged to see up close and personal "corruption" in the former USSR as well as games being played in latin america, s.e. asia, etc., and sadly have come to the conclusion that its getting pretty bad here as far as rule of law when it comes to fiscal matters.

[KaiserJeep]

I just finished House of Cards as well. In case you did not know, it is based on a trilogy of British novels which became a three-part miniseries in Britain. I have read the books and seen the British mini-series, but I suggest you avoid them unless you want to know the broad strokes of what will happen in the third season of the US House of Cards.

Legislation bought and paid for by the wealthy was in fact the reason that the USA prospered after WW2 and to a lesser extent after the US Civil War. Economic growth and the growth of the Middle Class were completely intertwined.

Nowadays we have exported most Middle Class jobs to China and the US elites are further enriching themselves by consuming the wealth of that Middle Class. I don't know about the rest of you, but I got the college education and pursued the professional career, only to see my house value halved by the real estate bubble and my retirement account halved by the Wall Street conniption - and then watched the Upper Class bailout with incredulous eyes.

Of course neither our government nor the class system in this country closely resemble Britain. But the differences between the US and UK series are fascinating. I prefer the US version of Francis Underwood. If it was a pirate movie, he would be engaged in swordplay instead of wordplay, and twirling his mustachios madly.

IMHO a good villain is simply so much better than a hero, when it comes to entertainment value. That is why Breaking Bad succeeded like it did.

[phaster]

IMHO a good villain is simply so much better than a hero, when it comes to entertainment value. That is why Breaking Bad succeeded like it did.

The joker in The Dark Knight (2008) was indeed GREAT entertainment

[url]
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/[/url]

but as w/ howard stern's fettish w/ lesbians, there also can be great "entertainment" value (on many different levels)

netflix most likely is going to suck me back in for another binge fest when the new season of orange is the new black, is released

[url]
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-f ... son-680589[/url]