I'm of the opinion that politicians above a certain level (in the UK: prime minister, members of Parliament and maybe mayors) should just get a permenant annuity for the rest of their lives on the condition that they can't make money from anything else, ever. No stocks, no "speaking engagements" or do nothing bribery jobs. It would be expensive yes, but cheaper than the cost of corruption. Maybe have the value of the annuity be based of rank, MP gets 300k/y and PM gets 500k/y.

I thought it was common knowledge that politicians are crooks. There's even information out there on politicians trading patterns, and how they very often seem to buy or sell certain stock right before a huge news affecting that stock comes out.

Hate to break it to you — and hate even more to point you at a link behind a paywall — but legislators (and especially their family) indirectly trading on what they learn in their “work” isn’t, legally speaking, insider trading, and while it is now technically illegal getting members of Congress on either side to effectively police their own behavior has proven (shockingly) ineffective.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/09/13/us/politics/c...

It's as if writing "not a bribe" on a check passes muster. But we've also got superPACs, revolving door regulatory capture, legally exempted insider trading... Corruption is mainstream.

I don't understand how they could be seen as a direct bribe?

Market prices for famous speakers who don't have any conceivable effect on a bank's future regulation are also very high.