I remember being a broke college student during my senior year at The College of William & Mary. A group of us gathered at the Spanish House, the language immersion dorm where we lived, to brainstorm easy ways to make money. None of us had job offers yet, and we were anxious to prove to ourselves—and to our parents—that we hadn’t wasted four years.
One classmate joked, “What if we started a nonprofit called ‘Save The Children’? Who wouldn’t want to save children? We could raise a ton of money from private donors and the government. And then pay ourselves a million dollars each as directors!”
We all chuckled at the first glimpse of grift we’d concocted. Francisco would be the CEO, Pravster would be the CMO, and I would be the CFO. All our financial problems would be solved! With no money, our minds naturally drifted toward dubious ways of getting some.
Little did I realize that government grift was pervasive all around the country.
Goals Of This Post To explore government grift and understand why it persists To highlight the advantages of working for the government, given the bias toward private sector jobs To discuss the allure of power, money, and status, and why it can be dangerous if we don’t let go of them To show how people naturally tend to prioritize those most similar to themselves To question whether the government borrowing more money, raising taxes, and expanding the budget is the best path forward To examine how incentives drive human behavior What Is Government Grift?
Government grift refers to the unethical or corrupt misuse of public funds or resources by government officials or those connected to the government. It can take many forms, including embezzlement, bribery, nepotism, or diverting public resources for personal gain.
Essentially,
