the following is just a taster:

More interesting […] were the stories about political payoffs. In 2001, CDR [a brokerage firm] hired a consultant named Ron White, a Philadelphia bond attorney who happened to be the chief ­fundraiser for then-mayor John Street. CDR gave White two tickets to the 2003 Super Bowl in San Diego plus a limo – a gift worth $10,000. As his “guest,” White took Corey Kemp, the city treasurer for Philadelphia, who, 16 days later, awarded CDR a $150,000 contract to advise the city on swap deals. But that wasn’t the end of the gravy train: CDR doled out those swap deals to selected [Wall Street] banks, who in return kicked back $515,000 to CDR for steering city business their way.

So a mere $10,000 bribe to a politician – a couple of Super Bowl tickets and a limo – scored CDR a total of $665,000 of the public’s money. If you want to know why Wall Street has been enjoying record profits, here’s your answer: Corruption is a business model that brings in $66 for every dollar you invest.

btw why doesn’t rollingstone.tumblr.com have a post later than 8th june? why do they not allow posting from taibbi’s blog to tumblr when they have a tumblr account themselves? how many other organisations of similar renown are also failing to be truly linked up in their attempt to stake a place in the hearts of the webizenry