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On Corruption in America: And What Is at Stake
From the prizewinning journalist, internationally recognized expert on corruption in government networks throughout the world, author of 'Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security'
A major, unflinching book that looks homeward to America exploring the insidious, dangerous networks of corruption of our past, present, and precarious future.
Now, bringing to bear all of her knowledge, grasp, sense of history and observation, Sarah Chayes writes in her new book 'ON CORRUPTION IN AMERICA' that the United States is showing signs similar to some of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Corruption, as Chayes sees it, is an operating system of sophisticated networks in which government officials, key private-sector interests, and out-and-out criminals interweave. Their main objective: not to serve the public but to maximize returns for network members.
From the titans of America's Gilded Age (Carnegie, Rockefeller, JP Morgan, et al.); to the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the Depression and FDR's New Deal; from Joe Kennedy's years of banking, bootlegging, machine politics, and pursuit of infinite wealth, and the Kennedy presidency, to the deregulation of the Reagan Revolution, undermining the middle class; the unions; the Clinton policies of political favors and personal enrichment, to Trump's shocking hydra-headed network of corruption, systematically undoing our constitution and our laws, Chayes shows how corrupt systems are organized, how they enforce the rules so their crimes are covered legally; how they are overlooked and downplayed - shrugged off with a roll of the eye - by the richer and better-educated, how they become an overt principle determining the shape of our government, affecting all levels of society.
A major, unflinching book that looks homeward to America exploring the insidious, dangerous networks of corruption of our past, present, and precarious future.
Now, bringing to bear all of her knowledge, grasp, sense of history and observation, Sarah Chayes writes in her new book 'ON CORRUPTION IN AMERICA' that the United States is showing signs similar to some of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Corruption, as Chayes sees it, is an operating system of sophisticated networks in which government officials, key private-sector interests, and out-and-out criminals interweave. Their main objective: not to serve the public but to maximize returns for network members.
From the titans of America's Gilded Age (Carnegie, Rockefeller, JP Morgan, et al.); to the collapse of the stock market in 1929, the Depression and FDR's New Deal; from Joe Kennedy's years of banking, bootlegging, machine politics, and pursuit of infinite wealth, and the Kennedy presidency, to the deregulation of the Reagan Revolution, undermining the middle class; the unions; the Clinton policies of political favors and personal enrichment, to Trump's shocking hydra-headed network of corruption, systematically undoing our constitution and our laws, Chayes shows how corrupt systems are organized, how they enforce the rules so their crimes are covered legally; how they are overlooked and downplayed - shrugged off with a roll of the eye - by the richer and better-educated, how they become an overt principle determining the shape of our government, affecting all levels of society.
432 pages, Hardcover
First published August 11, 2020
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1208 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Chayes
10 books122 followersSarah Chayes is a former senior associate in the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and former award-winning reporter for National Public Radio, she also served as special advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
She graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover (1980) and Harvard University (1984) with a degree in History, magna cum laude. She was awarded the Radcliffe College History Prize. She then served in the Peace Corps in Morocco, returning to Harvard to earn a master's degree in History, specializing in the Medieval Islamic period. Besides English, she speaks Pashto, French, and Arabic.
From 1996 to 2002, she served as Paris reporter for National Public Radio, covering France, the European Union, North Africa, and the Balkans. She earned 1999 Foreign Press Club and Sigma Delta Chi awards (together with other members of the NPR team) for her reporting on the Kosovo War. After covering the fall of the Taliban and the early weeks of post-Taliban Afghanistan, in 2002 Chayes decided to leave reporting and stay behind to try to contribute to the rebuilding of the war-torn country.
Chayes lived in Kandahar, Afghanistan from 2002 to 2009. Having learned to speak Pashto, she helped rebuild homes and set up a dairy cooperative. In May 2005, she established the Arghand Cooperative, a venture that encourages local Afghan farmers to produce flowers, fruits, and herbs instead of opium poppies. The cooperative buys their almonds, pomegranate seeds, cumin and anise and artemisia and root dyes, extracts oils, essential oils, and tinctures from them, with which it produces soaps and other scented products for export. The cooperative is an associate member of the Natural Perfumers Guild.
Since leaving full-time radio reporting, she has been a frequent contributor to the print media, contributing to Foreign Policy Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post, among other outlets. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace maintains an archive of her writings.
She graduated from Phillips Academy, Andover (1980) and Harvard University (1984) with a degree in History, magna cum laude. She was awarded the Radcliffe College History Prize. She then served in the Peace Corps in Morocco, returning to Harvard to earn a master's degree in History, specializing in the Medieval Islamic period. Besides English, she speaks Pashto, French, and Arabic.
From 1996 to 2002, she served as Paris reporter for National Public Radio, covering France, the European Union, North Africa, and the Balkans. She earned 1999 Foreign Press Club and Sigma Delta Chi awards (together with other members of the NPR team) for her reporting on the Kosovo War. After covering the fall of the Taliban and the early weeks of post-Taliban Afghanistan, in 2002 Chayes decided to leave reporting and stay behind to try to contribute to the rebuilding of the war-torn country.
Chayes lived in Kandahar, Afghanistan from 2002 to 2009. Having learned to speak Pashto, she helped rebuild homes and set up a dairy cooperative. In May 2005, she established the Arghand Cooperative, a venture that encourages local Afghan farmers to produce flowers, fruits, and herbs instead of opium poppies. The cooperative buys their almonds, pomegranate seeds, cumin and anise and artemisia and root dyes, extracts oils, essential oils, and tinctures from them, with which it produces soaps and other scented products for export. The cooperative is an associate member of the Natural Perfumers Guild.
Since leaving full-time radio reporting, she has been a frequent contributor to the print media, contributing to Foreign Policy Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post, among other outlets. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace maintains an archive of her writings.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
October 11, 2020
This book is really up to date, covering not just Trump but also coronavirus relief programs. And both come out short by the standard of fairness and democracy, along with many other examples of government working for plutocrats at the expense of the people.
Chayes's thesis is that Gilded Age levels of income inequality and wealth disparity, whether in the actual Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries or the new Gilded Age that started in 1980 and continues today, don't come about by the natural forces of the free market, but are instead engineered by networks of elites working to line their own pockets.
Her most important point is that it's not just Republicans or autocrats like Trump and Putin who use the government to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies. Kleptocracy is a bipartisan pursuit, and Bill and Hilary Clinton turn out to be just as bad as any Republicans. Indeed, using the tools of "network analysis" that Chayes had honed in her work in Third World kleptocracies like Afghanistan and Nigeria, she is able to draw lines leading from the Clintons and other leading Democrats of the 1990s to some of the same people helping Trump today.
Though she's not explicit about it, Cheyes does appear to believe that history goes in cycles, and that the current 40-year old cycle of plutocratic rule may be drawing to a close, or at least may be vulnerable to attack. In the past, it took a major cataclysm, like a war or economic collapse, to end an era where elites worshipped at the altar of big money over other values. For example, it took the Great Depression and two world wars to dislodge the Gilded Age, and lead to a 50-year cycle of more public spiritedness, when a change in the moral values of elites allowed public policies and the legal system to redistribute wealth more fairly across society.
During the period from WW2 to 1980, wealth disparities were low. But after 1980, the wealth gap started increasing, rising today to levels not seen since the 1920s. Perhaps the appearance of Chayes's book, along with the resonance of populist political rhetoric from both Bernie Sanders and Trump himself may be signs that the trend is about to reverse.
At the end of the book, Chayes offers several ideas to help move the change along. Some of her ideas appear up to the task, such as forming citizen groups to educate ordinary citizens on why billionaires are not their friends and how to rein them in. "We reinforce better values by ceasing to assume that if someone is spectacularly rich, he must be smarter and more hardworking than the rest of us. We should view such people with suspicion," she writes. "It is impossible to become a billionaire without bending the rules. Most of the members of that class run their operations and live their lives in ways that injure our communities. Most are trying to rig the system even further. These are not upstanding citizens. Thy are parasites and freeloaders--however they try to justify themselves. We do not owe them deference."
Other ideas, such as consumers quietly trying to buy less stuff from Amazon or Walmart, seem underpowered to address the magnitude of the task of dethroning the rule of extreme greed across society.
In the end, to dislodge the rule of money and corruption, our country will need real reform of campaign finance and then other reforms to make government work to protect people and the environment as Chayes and many others have suggested.
Perhaps the most important insight for me was the danger of partisanship as well as identity politics. Divide and rule is an old trick of elites, but it never grows stale because ordinary people always fall for it. It's pitifully easy to pit middle class and poor Americans against each other using race, class, gender, religion, geography and attitudes about hot-button social issues. Political parties do it all the time. But keeping the rest of us apart from each other only benefits kleptocratic elites, whether Democratic or Republican. Ordinary Americans must work hard to resist such tricks and build a new solidarity to demand that government benefit the 99%.
Can this be done today in the absence of a war or economic collapse? Chayes seems to think that the pandemic might offer a start and I hope that she's right.
Chayes's thesis is that Gilded Age levels of income inequality and wealth disparity, whether in the actual Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries or the new Gilded Age that started in 1980 and continues today, don't come about by the natural forces of the free market, but are instead engineered by networks of elites working to line their own pockets.
Her most important point is that it's not just Republicans or autocrats like Trump and Putin who use the government to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies. Kleptocracy is a bipartisan pursuit, and Bill and Hilary Clinton turn out to be just as bad as any Republicans. Indeed, using the tools of "network analysis" that Chayes had honed in her work in Third World kleptocracies like Afghanistan and Nigeria, she is able to draw lines leading from the Clintons and other leading Democrats of the 1990s to some of the same people helping Trump today.
Though she's not explicit about it, Cheyes does appear to believe that history goes in cycles, and that the current 40-year old cycle of plutocratic rule may be drawing to a close, or at least may be vulnerable to attack. In the past, it took a major cataclysm, like a war or economic collapse, to end an era where elites worshipped at the altar of big money over other values. For example, it took the Great Depression and two world wars to dislodge the Gilded Age, and lead to a 50-year cycle of more public spiritedness, when a change in the moral values of elites allowed public policies and the legal system to redistribute wealth more fairly across society.
During the period from WW2 to 1980, wealth disparities were low. But after 1980, the wealth gap started increasing, rising today to levels not seen since the 1920s. Perhaps the appearance of Chayes's book, along with the resonance of populist political rhetoric from both Bernie Sanders and Trump himself may be signs that the trend is about to reverse.
At the end of the book, Chayes offers several ideas to help move the change along. Some of her ideas appear up to the task, such as forming citizen groups to educate ordinary citizens on why billionaires are not their friends and how to rein them in. "We reinforce better values by ceasing to assume that if someone is spectacularly rich, he must be smarter and more hardworking than the rest of us. We should view such people with suspicion," she writes. "It is impossible to become a billionaire without bending the rules. Most of the members of that class run their operations and live their lives in ways that injure our communities. Most are trying to rig the system even further. These are not upstanding citizens. Thy are parasites and freeloaders--however they try to justify themselves. We do not owe them deference."
Other ideas, such as consumers quietly trying to buy less stuff from Amazon or Walmart, seem underpowered to address the magnitude of the task of dethroning the rule of extreme greed across society.
In the end, to dislodge the rule of money and corruption, our country will need real reform of campaign finance and then other reforms to make government work to protect people and the environment as Chayes and many others have suggested.
Perhaps the most important insight for me was the danger of partisanship as well as identity politics. Divide and rule is an old trick of elites, but it never grows stale because ordinary people always fall for it. It's pitifully easy to pit middle class and poor Americans against each other using race, class, gender, religion, geography and attitudes about hot-button social issues. Political parties do it all the time. But keeping the rest of us apart from each other only benefits kleptocratic elites, whether Democratic or Republican. Ordinary Americans must work hard to resist such tricks and build a new solidarity to demand that government benefit the 99%.
Can this be done today in the absence of a war or economic collapse? Chayes seems to think that the pandemic might offer a start and I hope that she's right.
April 23, 2021
This was an excellent book. Sarah Chayes diagnoses of America’s “Midas disease” is spot on. Our country’s sense of value and community has been completely upended in the past 30-40 years. She makes a strong case that the vast amounts of money in politics (on both sides of the aisle) is corrupting our politicians, sacred institutions, and invaluable national resources.
What is really great about this book though, is that she doesn’t end by simply framing the problem. There are good concrete suggestions for the reader to take steps on beginning to restore our communities and country to the ideals upon which it was founded.
What is really great about this book though, is that she doesn’t end by simply framing the problem. There are good concrete suggestions for the reader to take steps on beginning to restore our communities and country to the ideals upon which it was founded.
November 29, 2020
Various tales of corruption dating from Biblical times up to the Covid 19 pandemic. Some of this was very insightful, especially the way the author shines a light on why Jesus' action in the temple to drive out the money lenders was so monumental, and the role it played in his crucifixition. Other times it was pretty standard stuff. What? Politicians are crooked? Mitch MicConnell is a real piece of @#%? I'm glad you're here to tell us these things!
My main complaint with this book is it seems to be running along two parallels. One is, as previously mention, the story of Jesus in the temple. The other is the tale of the multi-headed Hydra, comparing it to the corruption that binds together politicians, mafia bosses, corporations, etc etc, which I do believe, is a tale out of Greek mythology. Okay, which is it? Christian belief or Greek myth? Having two themes weakens the arguement in my opinion, especially the Hydra, which is mythical. We're talking about very real instances of corruption and greed and comparing them with tales of the Hydra and Midas and the Golden Touch. To me, it comes across as scattered.
I also thought the book hits with kid gloves at times. It calls some people out, but never really draws a line in the sand. Nor is it really inspiring as it relates tale after tale of the the corrupt winning. At the end it finally gets around to the "What You Can Do To Help" part of the book but by then your so beaten down you pretty much just want to give up. Yes, there are some good ideas at the end but just shopping local isn't going to stop the exporting of jobs to Asia. Yes, not shopping at Wal-Mart would help but how many of us can even afford not too at times? We've all got bills to pay, we've all suffered losses thanks to Covid. For every dollar a white male makes a Hispanic female makes 55 cents? Can she afford to buy all her meat and produce at a farmer's market, a CSA, or Whole Foods? I doubt it, I know I can't. Don't get me wrong, it's all good advice, but it comes off very pie in the sky. And after a couple hundred pages of being beaten down by a system and laws stacked against the common person, you're not really even fired up to go and try. A+ for effort, but only a C overall.
My main complaint with this book is it seems to be running along two parallels. One is, as previously mention, the story of Jesus in the temple. The other is the tale of the multi-headed Hydra, comparing it to the corruption that binds together politicians, mafia bosses, corporations, etc etc, which I do believe, is a tale out of Greek mythology. Okay, which is it? Christian belief or Greek myth? Having two themes weakens the arguement in my opinion, especially the Hydra, which is mythical. We're talking about very real instances of corruption and greed and comparing them with tales of the Hydra and Midas and the Golden Touch. To me, it comes across as scattered.
I also thought the book hits with kid gloves at times. It calls some people out, but never really draws a line in the sand. Nor is it really inspiring as it relates tale after tale of the the corrupt winning. At the end it finally gets around to the "What You Can Do To Help" part of the book but by then your so beaten down you pretty much just want to give up. Yes, there are some good ideas at the end but just shopping local isn't going to stop the exporting of jobs to Asia. Yes, not shopping at Wal-Mart would help but how many of us can even afford not too at times? We've all got bills to pay, we've all suffered losses thanks to Covid. For every dollar a white male makes a Hispanic female makes 55 cents? Can she afford to buy all her meat and produce at a farmer's market, a CSA, or Whole Foods? I doubt it, I know I can't. Don't get me wrong, it's all good advice, but it comes off very pie in the sky. And after a couple hundred pages of being beaten down by a system and laws stacked against the common person, you're not really even fired up to go and try. A+ for effort, but only a C overall.
October 14, 2020
This book struggles everywhere where Chayes’ earlier book, Thieves of State, excels. Whereas Thieves of State rigorously and meticulously fleshed out a framework that Chayes had developed through personal experience, this book was a loosely structured summary of everything that she had read about corruption in America.
If you don’t know about the Koch brothers, and gerrymandering, and about the military industrial complex, then you’ll probably find this book accessible and illuminating. The problem is that it adds nothing to the canon. It is sprawling and disappointingly skin-deep on every subject. It makes references to books which have explored the subjects in more depth than she does, like Seymour Hersh’s Darkside of Camelot or Jane Mayer’s Dark Money, but it achieves nothing like what those books do.
Chayes has some loose plot about corruption in America, whereby the prior apotheosis was reached in the Gilded Age, following which the destruction of WWII and the New Deal made the worship of money less fashionable for 50 or so years. This calm was then broken by Reagan Era deregulation which gave birth to Wall Street and corruption. It’s not that she’s wrong, it’s that there’s nothing new in this summary.
I’m sure that this is the kind of thing that will be reviewed well by the New Yorkers and New York Times of the world, but that is only because this agrees with their politics. As a piece of work, it’s underwhelming, and more so given the prior evidence that Chayes can do better.
If you don’t know about the Koch brothers, and gerrymandering, and about the military industrial complex, then you’ll probably find this book accessible and illuminating. The problem is that it adds nothing to the canon. It is sprawling and disappointingly skin-deep on every subject. It makes references to books which have explored the subjects in more depth than she does, like Seymour Hersh’s Darkside of Camelot or Jane Mayer’s Dark Money, but it achieves nothing like what those books do.
Chayes has some loose plot about corruption in America, whereby the prior apotheosis was reached in the Gilded Age, following which the destruction of WWII and the New Deal made the worship of money less fashionable for 50 or so years. This calm was then broken by Reagan Era deregulation which gave birth to Wall Street and corruption. It’s not that she’s wrong, it’s that there’s nothing new in this summary.
I’m sure that this is the kind of thing that will be reviewed well by the New Yorkers and New York Times of the world, but that is only because this agrees with their politics. As a piece of work, it’s underwhelming, and more so given the prior evidence that Chayes can do better.
January 8, 2022
Thank you to Sarah Chayes for writing this enlightening book. I had thought that the US had managed to suppress corruption and wondered how that had happened. Could that method be exported to other countries? I saw that multinational corporations were exploiting globalization to amass great fortunes and that the proceeds of those corporations were primarily going to a few corporate leaders. I saw that the shenanigans of the financial sector were distorting the economies around the world.
Now I understand that all of these economic distortions are part of a whole system of corruption. Our political guardrails to limit or prevent corruption have been intentionally subverted over the past 4 decades. Our laws have been eroded by Supreme Court decisions such as "Citizens United". Organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) create model legislation at the behest of private interests, for example, hiring corporations to run state prisons, cutting costs for profit, incarceration for profit rather than for correction of behavior.
Our country has been riven by differences in our understanding of opportunity since the beginning. Some of us want to acquire enough to be comfortable within our community. So of us want to amass as large a fortune as possible. Slavery was a result of corruption of that day. Money laundering via real estate speculation is our corruption du jour.
Now I understand that all of these economic distortions are part of a whole system of corruption. Our political guardrails to limit or prevent corruption have been intentionally subverted over the past 4 decades. Our laws have been eroded by Supreme Court decisions such as "Citizens United". Organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) create model legislation at the behest of private interests, for example, hiring corporations to run state prisons, cutting costs for profit, incarceration for profit rather than for correction of behavior.
Our country has been riven by differences in our understanding of opportunity since the beginning. Some of us want to acquire enough to be comfortable within our community. So of us want to amass as large a fortune as possible. Slavery was a result of corruption of that day. Money laundering via real estate speculation is our corruption du jour.
August 30, 2020
Sarah Chayes is a familiar voice for those weaned on NPR – she moved to Afghanistan shortly after the US invasion in the early 2000’s to assist in that country's rebuilding. She presents a very wide ranging rumination on the topic of Corruption obviously having observed quite a bit of it in first hand from our ill-formed foray into South Asia. She goes back in history and works her way back to the US about ¼ way into the book. She uses the metaphor of a Hydra to describe how the tentacles of corruption weave their way into the fabric of society and how this has waxed and waned in the US over the past 200 or so years. Overall it’s quite convincing for no other reason that one doesn’t need to be convinced of her assumption – she also doesn’t lay the blame on any one political party or ideology (the Clintons, Blair, and Schroeder all representing the left-of-center of their respective parties all are called out for justifiably withering criticism). In the last part she proposes several approaches to solve this, none without merit but some more worthy than others. Overall decent overview on this topic.
February 18, 2021
The corruption is far worse than I realized. If you care about fairness, the good of the order, the survival of our democracy and the planet, read this book! We must all reevaluate our priorities, and cease to complacently turn a blind eye on corruption, even if personal sacrifices of convenience and monetary wealth are required.
January 13, 2024
Really strong introduction to corruption and kleptocracy in the United States, especially for those who may be new to writers that focus on the specifically American version of institutional and governmental corruption. In a relatively short book, Chayes takes the reader on a fairly broad historical tour starting with the Gilded Age and how the relationships with money & power established during that time affected the United States for years to come especially as the country experienced war and the Depression. The sensation is of an persuasive, slow, but steadily approaching encroachment. When thinking about the books I've read about kleptocracy (admittedly not a lot, but burgeoning area of interest) I think that Chayes grounds her analysis in this time frame is particularly helpful. After that section, the book moves on to territories more familiar and recent examples of political and corporate corruption (S&L crisis, Enron, Citizens United, etc.). Still the writing here is still excellent, easy to read and very informative.
Overall really good and easy to recommend.
Overall really good and easy to recommend.
October 14, 2024
This book should be required reading for every American citizen. It is incredibly well researched, and well organized. I’ve been bothered for so many years about the way money controls politics, and our lives in this country. Sara explains how all those political money machine networks operate. She ties all the loosens together and I ended up with many “a ha” moments. The book was so intense and chock full The book was so intense and chock full of information, I read it several times and then took notes. Thank goodness in the last chapter, she offers solutions that give us all hope for the future. Solutions that we can all participate in. The author is a true expert, who has worked all over the world in multiple administrations and multiple countries. I highly recommend this book.
June 23, 2024
Wow, reading some books is like crawling through a pile of dinosaur shit. This one is a slowly building rant by a libiot dingbat. I'm certain there are many libiot dingbats that will enjoy reading its rant. I did not. On corruption in America should Include Authors spewing Horse Shit Bull Shit and/or Dinosaur Shit in their books. That is corrupt.
October 24, 2025
Wow, this was devastating to read. If everyone in America knew the things in this book DC would be smoldering embers.
May 6, 2025
The most important thing the book made me realize was that corruption is a bipartisan phenomenon. Every administration, from Clinton to Bush to Obama, has overseen a gradual roll-back of laws that are supposed to protect us from poor business practices. The author persuasively (and creatively, through the use of history and clever interpretation of mythology) makes the argument that we are living in another Gilded age. The only reason it is 4 stars is that I think the author could have went more in-depth with some of her stories. Otherwise it is a great book.
May 16, 2021
Chayes has an extensive background analyzing corruption both in the US and abroad as well as experiencing it firsthand. She brings this to bear in illuminating the corruption networks that exist in both the public and private sectors as well as the linkages between those. Some of her sociological analyses are particularly insightful, such as how shared sacrifices and disasters work to develop a more egalitarian sense among different groups of people. Unfortunately, her discussion of historical events and figures has the tendency to veer into the simplistic, ascribing cynical motives to a wide swath of laws, policies, and people, while outright ignoring aspects that don't fit her framework.
This is most evident in her explanation of the changes that occurred in the 80s with the "Reagan revolution" that brought about deregulation, lowered taxes, etc. Reading her take, you would think that the 70s was a golden era of labor and environmental protections, equality, and checks on the worst excesses of corporations and governments, all of which were undone by greedy actors so they could generate and redirect more profits to themselves. There is little to no discussion of the stagnation, inflation, and general economic woes that occurred in the 70s as a result of overregulation and government bureaucracy that spurred some of the eventual changes. To completely leave such historical data and experiences out detracts from her credibility and what is in other places a wonderful treatment of the various forces at play. One finds oneself constantly going back and forth between "Wow. I didn't know that. That's a good point.", and "Uh, you seem to be extrapolating a bit here and reaching exaggerated conclusions that aren't really warranted."
Such drawbacks are not significant enough to outweigh the many positives of the book, but they are a bit disappointing in what would otherwise be a truly excellent read.
This is most evident in her explanation of the changes that occurred in the 80s with the "Reagan revolution" that brought about deregulation, lowered taxes, etc. Reading her take, you would think that the 70s was a golden era of labor and environmental protections, equality, and checks on the worst excesses of corporations and governments, all of which were undone by greedy actors so they could generate and redirect more profits to themselves. There is little to no discussion of the stagnation, inflation, and general economic woes that occurred in the 70s as a result of overregulation and government bureaucracy that spurred some of the eventual changes. To completely leave such historical data and experiences out detracts from her credibility and what is in other places a wonderful treatment of the various forces at play. One finds oneself constantly going back and forth between "Wow. I didn't know that. That's a good point.", and "Uh, you seem to be extrapolating a bit here and reaching exaggerated conclusions that aren't really warranted."
Such drawbacks are not significant enough to outweigh the many positives of the book, but they are a bit disappointing in what would otherwise be a truly excellent read.
January 2, 2021
Disappointingly simplistic
I came to this book expecting a great deal more, and was disappointed. Chayes is very well-traveled and very well-connected, and points out, in naive, simplistic language what is by now a mainstream observation: that we’re being strangled by a kleptocratic kakistocracy. Useful for providing context for high school students or young adults encountering corruption in the U.S. for the first time. But if you’ve been awake for more then a few years, nothing here will be surprising or new; this is primarily a summary of others’ readily accessible work (scholarship, reporting, etc) framed with very badly done mythological-evo-psych bs (the existence of a “real” King Midas doesn’t really mean much for understanding the myth of his golden touch...and why do long form journalists love bad anthropology about hunter-gathering societies so much?). A bit odd that a book by someone so clearly well-traveled and well-connected is so naive in its articulation of the problems we face. For all the book’s repeated refrain about the need for group action, the solutions Chayes proposes are, at root, about individual virtue expressed through consumer choice, i.e. nonstarters.
I came to this book expecting a great deal more, and was disappointed. Chayes is very well-traveled and very well-connected, and points out, in naive, simplistic language what is by now a mainstream observation: that we’re being strangled by a kleptocratic kakistocracy. Useful for providing context for high school students or young adults encountering corruption in the U.S. for the first time. But if you’ve been awake for more then a few years, nothing here will be surprising or new; this is primarily a summary of others’ readily accessible work (scholarship, reporting, etc) framed with very badly done mythological-evo-psych bs (the existence of a “real” King Midas doesn’t really mean much for understanding the myth of his golden touch...and why do long form journalists love bad anthropology about hunter-gathering societies so much?). A bit odd that a book by someone so clearly well-traveled and well-connected is so naive in its articulation of the problems we face. For all the book’s repeated refrain about the need for group action, the solutions Chayes proposes are, at root, about individual virtue expressed through consumer choice, i.e. nonstarters.
January 24, 2021
Corruption, driven by money and greed, governs our politics.
Disheartening, but, I fear, true. Seems like some calamity, where all of us must work together, loosens, if not breaks the hold money has upon our political process. The author makes some important points about this “kleptocratic” group exercising such a stranglehold upon our politics. First, she believes that the Supreme Court, in three seminal decisions, has rewarded political corruption, by it’s sophistical and disingenuous parsing of words, such as the term “bribery”, making it very difficult, if not impossible to combat corrupt politicians for such a crime. Secondly,she points to this “kleptocratic” group’s success in dividing and splitting those groups opposed to its interests. Thirdly, she addresses the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United and the flawed reasoning, allowing this group to strengthen its hold upon our politics, with added monetary contributions, dealing as death blow to campaign finance reform. Fourthly, she draws our attention to the revolving door between powerful corporations and government—for both Democrats and Republicans. It is difficult reading this book without emerging as a cynic.
Disheartening, but, I fear, true. Seems like some calamity, where all of us must work together, loosens, if not breaks the hold money has upon our political process. The author makes some important points about this “kleptocratic” group exercising such a stranglehold upon our politics. First, she believes that the Supreme Court, in three seminal decisions, has rewarded political corruption, by it’s sophistical and disingenuous parsing of words, such as the term “bribery”, making it very difficult, if not impossible to combat corrupt politicians for such a crime. Secondly,she points to this “kleptocratic” group’s success in dividing and splitting those groups opposed to its interests. Thirdly, she addresses the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United and the flawed reasoning, allowing this group to strengthen its hold upon our politics, with added monetary contributions, dealing as death blow to campaign finance reform. Fourthly, she draws our attention to the revolving door between powerful corporations and government—for both Democrats and Republicans. It is difficult reading this book without emerging as a cynic.
December 27, 2020
A fine primer, though the structure and call to direct action confused and frustrated me. This book dealt with a lot of good topics, but didn't feel revolutionary, and I came away unsure why it was awarded so much praise as a top audiobook of the year. By no means a bad read! Just, not my thing, really.
August 16, 2022
This is a phenomenal work by a diligent and careful investigator. Such an important eye opener. Highly recommended!
March 30, 2022
This is an important book. It may cover material that has been covered elsewhere but read alone, it is a book that all citizens should read. It is based mostly on the American system but I believe it applies to Canada, even if our system is different. Canadians, as students of America (we can't help it) should read it to understand the peril we are in.
Editorially, I think the myths of Money (Midas, Jesus, Aristotle) should have been edited down a lot. Also at times, the authors narrative seemed a bit hyperbolic and ranty-rhetorical. But I do get her exasperation.
People outside the US have largely been scratching their heads during the Trump flash presidency (and hopefully it was just a brief flash!). In my view if you didn't see a politician like him coming, then you haven't been paying attention. I'm 70 and I've observed and understood the steady deconstruction of the progress in democracy since Ronnie Raygun. Nixon was the last real Republican politician in the sense of a man (still a man's world) and his ideas. Nixon was flawed for sure, but the agenda he set was his own. Raygun, Dumbya, and DT were each cardboard cutout Presidents: puppets of a monied, corporate-minded cabal, playing a long game of democracy destruction.
What the author, Sarah Chayes does so thoroughly and exhaustively is demonstrate how my suspects were linked within the cabal. She also connects numerous Democratic operatives and politicians to their own participation in the decay of power for average Americans. I found this informative and fascinating, if not completely unexpected.
Sarah places the beginning of the end at June 27, 2016 (McDonnell v. United States): the overturning of corruption convictions (Governor Bob McDonnell) two lower courts by the Supreme Court. I agree that this case was pivotal regarding shameless graft in politics, but for the average American, the end began with Raygun's laser dissection of unions in America (remember the Air Traffic Controllers). Whatever the excesses were of the unions, they were the only counterforce to unbridled corporations.
Chayes admits later in her book the importance rich people placed on this balancing force.
p.180 Charles Koch (1997 speech): "We are greatly outnumbered." This statement starkly identifies the dilemma for rich and unlimited wealth seekers. The solutions: 1) weaken ALL sources of collective power; 2) increase power to the few already powerful.
In short, different rules for the rich than everyone else:
1) 2011 Supreme Court decision barring groups of customers (class-action) from suing Walmart, AT&T and tobacco companies (see footnote p. 127)
2) 2010 Supreme Court decision: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission grants equal status of a corporation to an individual; i.e. personhood for a corporation
America, take note: corporate "persons" are currently permitted to gang up against you citizens (amicus legal briefs by PACs; business/industry associations like Chamber of Commerce, NRA, etc.) yet real individual persons cannot gain legal status as a group against corporations. (My opinion is that the same judgement that denies real persons "class-actions" should also deny corporate "fake persons" just sayin')
Finally, I quote Don Ayers (lawyer for McDonnell above) from the book; when asked how could this happen?
"It's a complicated question..." "Our historical national philosophy of individualism is at the root of it."
Yup!
Editorially, I think the myths of Money (Midas, Jesus, Aristotle) should have been edited down a lot. Also at times, the authors narrative seemed a bit hyperbolic and ranty-rhetorical. But I do get her exasperation.
People outside the US have largely been scratching their heads during the Trump flash presidency (and hopefully it was just a brief flash!). In my view if you didn't see a politician like him coming, then you haven't been paying attention. I'm 70 and I've observed and understood the steady deconstruction of the progress in democracy since Ronnie Raygun. Nixon was the last real Republican politician in the sense of a man (still a man's world) and his ideas. Nixon was flawed for sure, but the agenda he set was his own. Raygun, Dumbya, and DT were each cardboard cutout Presidents: puppets of a monied, corporate-minded cabal, playing a long game of democracy destruction.
What the author, Sarah Chayes does so thoroughly and exhaustively is demonstrate how my suspects were linked within the cabal. She also connects numerous Democratic operatives and politicians to their own participation in the decay of power for average Americans. I found this informative and fascinating, if not completely unexpected.
Sarah places the beginning of the end at June 27, 2016 (McDonnell v. United States): the overturning of corruption convictions (Governor Bob McDonnell) two lower courts by the Supreme Court. I agree that this case was pivotal regarding shameless graft in politics, but for the average American, the end began with Raygun's laser dissection of unions in America (remember the Air Traffic Controllers). Whatever the excesses were of the unions, they were the only counterforce to unbridled corporations.
Chayes admits later in her book the importance rich people placed on this balancing force.
p.180 Charles Koch (1997 speech): "We are greatly outnumbered." This statement starkly identifies the dilemma for rich and unlimited wealth seekers. The solutions: 1) weaken ALL sources of collective power; 2) increase power to the few already powerful.
In short, different rules for the rich than everyone else:
1) 2011 Supreme Court decision barring groups of customers (class-action) from suing Walmart, AT&T and tobacco companies (see footnote p. 127)
2) 2010 Supreme Court decision: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission grants equal status of a corporation to an individual; i.e. personhood for a corporation
America, take note: corporate "persons" are currently permitted to gang up against you citizens (amicus legal briefs by PACs; business/industry associations like Chamber of Commerce, NRA, etc.) yet real individual persons cannot gain legal status as a group against corporations. (My opinion is that the same judgement that denies real persons "class-actions" should also deny corporate "fake persons" just sayin')
Finally, I quote Don Ayers (lawyer for McDonnell above) from the book; when asked how could this happen?
"It's a complicated question..." "Our historical national philosophy of individualism is at the root of it."
Yup!
August 12, 2023
A wee bit too long and sometimes a bit overbearing in tone, this book nonetheless does an admirable job of documenting and describing the pervasive corruption in America and tells the story of how we became so inured to this ever-expanding problem. Chayes has a long background in dealing with corruption in other countries, and came to this project well-prepared to analyze the American instance. Rightly, she points to the struggles of common working folks in the Gilded Age to wrestle with the robber barons and moneyed interests for a reasonable share of the nation's prosperity and of the political power one ought to expect in a republic devoted to human equality and freedom. Chayes is spot-on in pointing to 1980 as roughly the inflection point, and the "greed is good" 1980's as the starting point for a new Gilded Age in which oligarchs and corporate interests would once again grab for ever larger slices of the nation's economic pie. She does not hesitate to point to the Clinton presidency in the 1990's as time in which the Democratic party doubled down on this trend of the Reagan years, eliminating regulatory burdens and welcoming the political donations of the big banks and other large corporations. Throughout the 90's the concentration of wealth and income among a small but powerful elite continued the trend that began in the Reagan years.
When Hillary Clinton faced off against Donald Trump in 2016, many liberals didn't care about the enormous "speaking fees" Clinton collected from Goldman Sachs, or the highly dubious donations and influence peddling associated with the Clinton Foundation. Of course, Chayes notes that the Trump administration took political corruption to new levels, perhaps the worst in American history, and few Republicans seem, even now, to mind very much. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump cashed-in on their positions in the Trump administration and have not been charged. Nobody cares. Not many Democrats are sufficiently troubled by the Hunter Biden influence peddling to want someone other than his father on the 2024 presidential ticket. We are swimming in the sewage and wondering what that smell is, if we catch the scent at all.
We are seeing how difficult it is to hold a president to account for such criminality. The Supreme Court in the case of Virginia governor McDonell made it almost impossible to criminally prosecute politicians who clearly and egregiously violate public ethics rules, and privileged dark money pollution of our democratic processes in the Citizens United decision. The law has become an instrument to protect the power and privilege of the wealthy; and this fact is the result of ambition and greed among the donors and their political servants, on one hand, and the ignorance and timid acquiescence of the rest of us.
How long will we stand for this?
When Hillary Clinton faced off against Donald Trump in 2016, many liberals didn't care about the enormous "speaking fees" Clinton collected from Goldman Sachs, or the highly dubious donations and influence peddling associated with the Clinton Foundation. Of course, Chayes notes that the Trump administration took political corruption to new levels, perhaps the worst in American history, and few Republicans seem, even now, to mind very much. Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump cashed-in on their positions in the Trump administration and have not been charged. Nobody cares. Not many Democrats are sufficiently troubled by the Hunter Biden influence peddling to want someone other than his father on the 2024 presidential ticket. We are swimming in the sewage and wondering what that smell is, if we catch the scent at all.
We are seeing how difficult it is to hold a president to account for such criminality. The Supreme Court in the case of Virginia governor McDonell made it almost impossible to criminally prosecute politicians who clearly and egregiously violate public ethics rules, and privileged dark money pollution of our democratic processes in the Citizens United decision. The law has become an instrument to protect the power and privilege of the wealthy; and this fact is the result of ambition and greed among the donors and their political servants, on one hand, and the ignorance and timid acquiescence of the rest of us.
How long will we stand for this?
August 30, 2024
A smart, passionate, call to arms
I knew little about corruption in the United States before this book, but Sarah Chayes’ writing has sparked a passion in me.
The Prologue, first 3 chapters, and Epilogue were some of the most insightful for me, but the historical explorations of how Sarah says we got to now give important context as well.
The Prologue highlights the case of McDonnell v. United States. McDonnell was the governor of Virginia and a common sense interpretation of the facts is that he used his office to assist the CEO of a tobacco company in arranging clinical trials for a “dietary supplement”, and he received gifts and loans totaling over $175,000 in addition to vacations and other luxuries. He was convicted in 2014 by a jury of his peers, the U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the ruling, and in June 2016, the Supreme court unanimously overturned the ruling. I read some of the case notes out of curiosity (see Scotusblog for a brief overview) and the argument seemed to be about hemming over what an “official act” is. It essentially narrows down what counts as corruption. The justices fretted over criminalizing politics as it is done today. And yet if a judge did what McDonnell did, he would be in jail. Pundits were unanimous too. That decision directly led to Senator Menendez escaping his own conviction of bribery in 2018, and only recently in 2024 was he convicted of bribery for providing sensitive information to Egypt.
The first 3 chapters were a useful lens to consider questions of culture. What do you think will happen in a society that prioritizes wealth maximization? It was a refresher on an idea I came across years ago from economist Michael Munger “the Road to Crony Capitalism”. And the sections on the Gilded Age and the decades long efforts to move away from idolizing greed served as important historical context. The U.S. reigned in corporate excesses before…it’s possible to do it again. It just might take a shared calamity to do it.
The epilogue was not a checklist of solutions, but more of a brainstorm. I think the author is right that such a pervasive problem cannot be solved by individuals - it will take everyone. As a teacher, I intend to work some parts of this book into my classes (do we live in service of the economy or should the economy be in service of us?). And I think organizations like Wolf-PAC or RepresentUs can help fight corruption. I invite you to start somewhere. And if you’re not sure where to start, start with this book!
I knew little about corruption in the United States before this book, but Sarah Chayes’ writing has sparked a passion in me.
The Prologue, first 3 chapters, and Epilogue were some of the most insightful for me, but the historical explorations of how Sarah says we got to now give important context as well.
The Prologue highlights the case of McDonnell v. United States. McDonnell was the governor of Virginia and a common sense interpretation of the facts is that he used his office to assist the CEO of a tobacco company in arranging clinical trials for a “dietary supplement”, and he received gifts and loans totaling over $175,000 in addition to vacations and other luxuries. He was convicted in 2014 by a jury of his peers, the U.S. Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the ruling, and in June 2016, the Supreme court unanimously overturned the ruling. I read some of the case notes out of curiosity (see Scotusblog for a brief overview) and the argument seemed to be about hemming over what an “official act” is. It essentially narrows down what counts as corruption. The justices fretted over criminalizing politics as it is done today. And yet if a judge did what McDonnell did, he would be in jail. Pundits were unanimous too. That decision directly led to Senator Menendez escaping his own conviction of bribery in 2018, and only recently in 2024 was he convicted of bribery for providing sensitive information to Egypt.
The first 3 chapters were a useful lens to consider questions of culture. What do you think will happen in a society that prioritizes wealth maximization? It was a refresher on an idea I came across years ago from economist Michael Munger “the Road to Crony Capitalism”. And the sections on the Gilded Age and the decades long efforts to move away from idolizing greed served as important historical context. The U.S. reigned in corporate excesses before…it’s possible to do it again. It just might take a shared calamity to do it.
The epilogue was not a checklist of solutions, but more of a brainstorm. I think the author is right that such a pervasive problem cannot be solved by individuals - it will take everyone. As a teacher, I intend to work some parts of this book into my classes (do we live in service of the economy or should the economy be in service of us?). And I think organizations like Wolf-PAC or RepresentUs can help fight corruption. I invite you to start somewhere. And if you’re not sure where to start, start with this book!
January 26, 2022
On Corruption in America: And What Is at Stake by Sarah Chayes
I have listened to some of her talks on line so I knew what to expect. However, as a warning to potential readers; if you have high blood pressure or don’t wish to ruin your day maybe you should not open the book.
Ms. Chayes in knowledgeable and thorough in detailing the level of corruption and kleptocracy going on not just in 3rd world countries but in America as well. Much of the book discusses “The Hydra” as she refers to it where there is no much interconnection and networking between corporate America, politician and yes even the courts to make what would seem to be illegal- legal.
Have you ever wondered by a CEO would leave a major corporation making an 8 figure-salary to head up an agency in the US government making far less, traveling coach and staying in hotels that meet the per diem? Well, they are able with the help of congress if needed to pass legislation to make stealing from what is the general public possible. This happens from both parties and includes, Mr. & Mrs. Mitch McConnell, Madeleine Albright, Steve Mnuchin, his father, and brother who all came out of Goldman Sachs. There are long time connections between Supreme Court Justices going back to grade school and the cancerous relationship between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton via Jeffrey Epstein. And I learned that Mr. Epstein’s first job in a private school teaching Physics was due to Attorney William Barr’s father ! Intertwined all of the people with a common goal of acquiring land, resources, broken companies for asset stripping all to make more money that they need.
Can the government stop them? Probably not. As Ms. Chayes describes Newt Gingrich cut the congressional staff by two thirds. As a result, there are very few staff members to dig into issues before Congressional hearings. As in the case of Boeing when the two airplanes recently crashed turned over a million documents to congress, there were two staffers assigned to go thru them. You can imagine how well the hearing went. Same with the Facebook hearings.
Does Ms. Chayes offer solutions? Yes, but I am not sure they will come to pass nor can I offer any as well unless as she describes we suffer a major catastrophe that brings America together. It is not clear what catastrophe would do this? Pandemic? Another Trump win? These have not done it. So, this is why I suggested don’t read unless you wish to get very angry. Btw; I am glad I did read the book.
I have listened to some of her talks on line so I knew what to expect. However, as a warning to potential readers; if you have high blood pressure or don’t wish to ruin your day maybe you should not open the book.
Ms. Chayes in knowledgeable and thorough in detailing the level of corruption and kleptocracy going on not just in 3rd world countries but in America as well. Much of the book discusses “The Hydra” as she refers to it where there is no much interconnection and networking between corporate America, politician and yes even the courts to make what would seem to be illegal- legal.
Have you ever wondered by a CEO would leave a major corporation making an 8 figure-salary to head up an agency in the US government making far less, traveling coach and staying in hotels that meet the per diem? Well, they are able with the help of congress if needed to pass legislation to make stealing from what is the general public possible. This happens from both parties and includes, Mr. & Mrs. Mitch McConnell, Madeleine Albright, Steve Mnuchin, his father, and brother who all came out of Goldman Sachs. There are long time connections between Supreme Court Justices going back to grade school and the cancerous relationship between Donald Trump and Bill Clinton via Jeffrey Epstein. And I learned that Mr. Epstein’s first job in a private school teaching Physics was due to Attorney William Barr’s father ! Intertwined all of the people with a common goal of acquiring land, resources, broken companies for asset stripping all to make more money that they need.
Can the government stop them? Probably not. As Ms. Chayes describes Newt Gingrich cut the congressional staff by two thirds. As a result, there are very few staff members to dig into issues before Congressional hearings. As in the case of Boeing when the two airplanes recently crashed turned over a million documents to congress, there were two staffers assigned to go thru them. You can imagine how well the hearing went. Same with the Facebook hearings.
Does Ms. Chayes offer solutions? Yes, but I am not sure they will come to pass nor can I offer any as well unless as she describes we suffer a major catastrophe that brings America together. It is not clear what catastrophe would do this? Pandemic? Another Trump win? These have not done it. So, this is why I suggested don’t read unless you wish to get very angry. Btw; I am glad I did read the book.
July 6, 2023
Chayes cuts through all the bullshit that dominates the American political news cycle to cut at the core of what's going on in our country: it has been taken over by a corrupt globalized plutocracy (a kleptocracy) that is rigging all regulations and economic structures towards their own self-interests. It has congress in their pockets, and has oligopolized much of the economy under their control. It has done so in the pursuit of endless profits, ushering in a Second Gilded age, risking global ecological collapse and a third world war in the process.
Between forcing severe economic insecurity on the working and middle class, to its lust for perpetual war, and the undermining of our civil liberties and constitutional rights, this kleptocracy poses the largest security risk to America's republic and its democratic institutions and freedoms.
My only gripes come in the form of not acknowledging the conspiratorial nature of all this, as anti-conspiracism is a bane on Western society, as it has a vice-grip hold on how people think about power and corruption, and this is no exception. It's also bothersome that Chayes doesn't lend credit to Marxist thought, which called this spade a spade over 100 years ago, and especially despite her handling of some socialist thought (Lincolns first Inaugural address) and her coverage of the 19th/20th century labor movement. Additionally, Chayes, despite her network analysis method, also passed the Epstein and G. Maxwell saga off as simply two plutocrats own personal pervert sex ring, when it's obvious they were running a black-mail op on the rich and powerful, and on behalf of still unknown third parties, creating a compromised network within the larger international plutocratic network that the book outlines.
Gripes aside, this a great book, and while it covers a lot of basics that older and in-the-know citizens and experts are already familiar with, I highly recommend it for everyone who wants a breath of fresh air away from the propagandizing, jingoistic nonsense that dominates most of America's political process. I will be recommending it to a few younger colleagues of mine who are interested in international politics/business, as I think it will do a phenomenal job of getting them up to speed and making them realize what's going on in the world today.
Between forcing severe economic insecurity on the working and middle class, to its lust for perpetual war, and the undermining of our civil liberties and constitutional rights, this kleptocracy poses the largest security risk to America's republic and its democratic institutions and freedoms.
My only gripes come in the form of not acknowledging the conspiratorial nature of all this, as anti-conspiracism is a bane on Western society, as it has a vice-grip hold on how people think about power and corruption, and this is no exception. It's also bothersome that Chayes doesn't lend credit to Marxist thought, which called this spade a spade over 100 years ago, and especially despite her handling of some socialist thought (Lincolns first Inaugural address) and her coverage of the 19th/20th century labor movement. Additionally, Chayes, despite her network analysis method, also passed the Epstein and G. Maxwell saga off as simply two plutocrats own personal pervert sex ring, when it's obvious they were running a black-mail op on the rich and powerful, and on behalf of still unknown third parties, creating a compromised network within the larger international plutocratic network that the book outlines.
Gripes aside, this a great book, and while it covers a lot of basics that older and in-the-know citizens and experts are already familiar with, I highly recommend it for everyone who wants a breath of fresh air away from the propagandizing, jingoistic nonsense that dominates most of America's political process. I will be recommending it to a few younger colleagues of mine who are interested in international politics/business, as I think it will do a phenomenal job of getting them up to speed and making them realize what's going on in the world today.
January 30, 2023
This is a very well-researched and thoughtful book on the corruption in American politics. It’s up to date, with discussions on Trump, Clinton, and Mitch McConnell. The book has no overt political bias, and Sarah Chayes’ analysis of America’s corruption is fact-based. Regardless of your political ideology/party, I highly recommend reading this book to better understand the state of American politics.
Chayes’ main message: money is at the heart of the corruption. America’s government has become a modern day kleptocracy because politicians are basically accepting bribes (though not outright). This kind of “white-collar crime” is upheld by the Supreme Court in McDonnell v United States and Citizens United v FEC. Chayes’ writing in this book has some creative elements, such as sustained allusions to Greek myths and the Bible (wealthy corporations who fund politicians are called The Hydra, the Midas story serves as an underlying warning about greed and money in American politics, and the Temple scene of the Bible is also used). These creative allusions make the reading colorful and enjoyable. Chayes also references the Gilded Age in her examples. However, the book is very dense and follows (in much detail) the “kleptocratic networks” (the network through which politicians are given money by businesses/corporations/people who want favors). For those who don’t have much background in economics and finance, this part was hard to understand (I read this in high school, so I didn’t have much background).
However, I appreciated that she included a few solutions to America’s “Midas disease.” I dislike when authors identify a problem and do not follow up with a solution, so I applaud that Chayes does provide her thoughts on how to prevent this type of corruption.
Chayes’ main message: money is at the heart of the corruption. America’s government has become a modern day kleptocracy because politicians are basically accepting bribes (though not outright). This kind of “white-collar crime” is upheld by the Supreme Court in McDonnell v United States and Citizens United v FEC. Chayes’ writing in this book has some creative elements, such as sustained allusions to Greek myths and the Bible (wealthy corporations who fund politicians are called The Hydra, the Midas story serves as an underlying warning about greed and money in American politics, and the Temple scene of the Bible is also used). These creative allusions make the reading colorful and enjoyable. Chayes also references the Gilded Age in her examples. However, the book is very dense and follows (in much detail) the “kleptocratic networks” (the network through which politicians are given money by businesses/corporations/people who want favors). For those who don’t have much background in economics and finance, this part was hard to understand (I read this in high school, so I didn’t have much background).
However, I appreciated that she included a few solutions to America’s “Midas disease.” I dislike when authors identify a problem and do not follow up with a solution, so I applaud that Chayes does provide her thoughts on how to prevent this type of corruption.
February 14, 2022
I gave this book 4 stars for raising awareness but found it extremely challenging due to my lack of knowledge of the government and NGOs upon which she bases her arguments. I don’t understand the financial world (domestic or foreign) and it’s manipulation by those in power. I find it difficult to understand some Supreme Court decisions due to the legalese and my insufficient knowledge of constitutional law. I could have spent months, researching all of this as well as the people in the kleptocratic networks she describes. I quickly realized I would have only a general understanding of her arguments. I became more and more disheartened as she described the corruption in America, largely based on the back-and-forth movement of those in the public and private sectors, who use the knowledge gained to line their own pockets. But by the end I asked myself if this has not always been the case? I remembered George Orwell’s description of society in “1984.” He posits that those in power do what they can to remain so, those in the middle occasionally move up try to remain there, as well, and those on the bottom stay there. And is it as bad as she describes? Surely there are civil servants and members of Congress who are serving our democracy? Chayes offers some solutions but trying to change policy when the authors of legislation benefit from it seems pointless. Is it possible to have a better educated public? (Another possible solution.) And as other authors on this subject, she encourages people to become involved at the local level, and not just through local elections, but by engaging in community.
May 27, 2022
Chayes has written about corruption in governments all over the world so her take on the American version is jolting. I mean how can you compare America to Venezuela or some banana republic? But Chayes has a pretty high standard. Politicians need money to get elected in our system so anyone who donates to a campaign is bribing that politician to vote a certain way. If you are opposed to abortion you donate to the guy who says he opposes abortion and then count on him to vote that way when the issue comes up. We don't really consider it corrupt unless the politician gets rich doing favors like fixing it so a business can dump poisons into the river or if the politician gives lucrative contracts to his buddies. Looking for buddies, the same names coming up over and over, is one marker for corruption, Chayes says. She also follows the subject all the way back to its beginning, The Midas Touch, an old Greek myth. The creation of the monetary system was the start of corruption. This is a very well researched book that doesn't take one political side but finds plenty of shady shenanigans on all sides.
October 14, 2021
This book is along the lines of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate but tackling big corporations and their links to politics.
Sarah Chayes compares our current political climate to Ancient Greek mythology, centering on the King Midas theme. This comparison as well as her repetition of the word kleptocracy and her reference to the Gilded Age helps to ground her research.
I am more educated after reading this book. I was hoping for a bit more of how we as the consumers can find our similarities and push for solutions.
Sarah Chayes compares our current political climate to Ancient Greek mythology, centering on the King Midas theme. This comparison as well as her repetition of the word kleptocracy and her reference to the Gilded Age helps to ground her research.
I am more educated after reading this book. I was hoping for a bit more of how we as the consumers can find our similarities and push for solutions.
October 23, 2022
This one’s an eye-opener. So well written and incredibly researched. Sarah Chayes is an amazing woman that has lived in some of the roughest areas at some of the roughest times, especially for an American. She sees the patterns, follows up with research, and then goes in and asks the hard questions.
It is a tough read, though, I must tell you. Disheartening and at times just plain bleak, so deep is the corruption not just around the world, but right here at home in the U.S.A. And it’s not like you didn’t know that, but I’m not sure you know it to this extent. Like the title says, “…and what’s at stake.”
But in the end, she also has some glimmers of hope and more importantly, it is made clear that just reading this, just becoming aware of her work and others like her, is what is needed to start cleaning this up and turning things around.
Personally, I think it is a must-read for every American, an opportunity to get a reality check. When I was done, I felt better that I knew what she had to say.
It is a tough read, though, I must tell you. Disheartening and at times just plain bleak, so deep is the corruption not just around the world, but right here at home in the U.S.A. And it’s not like you didn’t know that, but I’m not sure you know it to this extent. Like the title says, “…and what’s at stake.”
But in the end, she also has some glimmers of hope and more importantly, it is made clear that just reading this, just becoming aware of her work and others like her, is what is needed to start cleaning this up and turning things around.
Personally, I think it is a must-read for every American, an opportunity to get a reality check. When I was done, I felt better that I knew what she had to say.
August 27, 2020
This is a highly readable and illuminating book. The author’s experience in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Central America empowers her to recognize the workings of corruption, impunity, graft, self-dealing, money-laundering, nepotism, trafficking, black markets, and profiteering here in the US. Deeply depressing but indisputable.
I appreciated her mythic-archetypal frameworks: Midas’ golden touch; the money-changers in the Temple; the Hydra.
A valuable companion to “Dark Money,” “The Shock Doctrine,” and “Democracy in Chains”.
Each of these identifies a different villainous mastermind: Charles Koch, Milton Friedman, FA Hayek, James Buchanan, and now Justice Powell, whose memorandum shortly before his elevation to the Supreme Court Chayes analyses as another blueprint for libertarian oligarchs in post-WWII America.
I appreciated her mythic-archetypal frameworks: Midas’ golden touch; the money-changers in the Temple; the Hydra.
A valuable companion to “Dark Money,” “The Shock Doctrine,” and “Democracy in Chains”.
Each of these identifies a different villainous mastermind: Charles Koch, Milton Friedman, FA Hayek, James Buchanan, and now Justice Powell, whose memorandum shortly before his elevation to the Supreme Court Chayes analyses as another blueprint for libertarian oligarchs in post-WWII America.
April 24, 2021
Coincidentally as I finished reading this book I read a newspaper article about an ex-mayor who was convicted of taking bribes amounting to $500,000. He was convicted and fined $180,000. Seems like he came out $320,000 ahead. How does this do anything but encourage other public officials to do the same thing? I've seen this pattern over and over with individuals and corporations who steal millions of dollars from the public and receive a relatively tiny fine which = the cost of doing (criminal) business. I think we are all aware of the undue influence of money on our elected officials but this book beautifully describes the sordid details.
November 27, 2022
This book, published in 2020, is poignant and enlightening. The writing style really draws you in as you’re reading it. I would even say that this book should be required reading for everyone on the planet, not just those in the U.S. (Which probably means I need to read some of the author's previous works, as well.) Here is a quote from the book that I can’t stop thinking about: “Corruption is not an isolated scandal or even a whole stack of them. Corruption is better understood as the deliberate mode of functioning– the operating systems, you might say— of sophisticated, and astonishingly successful, networks.”
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