If you’re a corruption-heavy sleaze bag looking to rack up crooked profits, the easiest way to do it is by rigging the game. And what better to rig the game than to buy off government and have them offer you tax breaks while “regulating” your competitors out of business?

So how much would it cost to buy the Presidency?

From the Christian Science Monitor:

As soon as Monday, [Obama is] expected to file papers with the Federal Election Commission for a campaign operation now forming in Chicago.

“Former West Wing staffer Jim Messina, Obama’s likely campaign manager, has been holding donor meetings around the country, and the president is scheduled to hold a series of fundraisers in New York and California over the next few weeks,” reports Politico.com. “The campaign is expected to raise $750 million to $1 billion.”

$1 billion? What about scoundrels who want to play it safe? America is a two party system — so the cost of buying up both parties in a Presidential election would be, roughly, $2 billion.

That’s pocket change.

From Goldman Sachs:

Today, continuing the firm’s tradition of excellence, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) serves the investment management needs of preeminent institutions and individual investors worldwide through institutional strategies, mutual funds and subadvised portfolios. With more than $735 billion in assets under management across geographic borders, investment styles, and asset classes, GSAM ranks among the top 15 asset management firms globally.

So Goldman Sachs manages more than 735 times the cost of a successful Presidential campaign? And that puts it in the top fifteen firms? Not even the top ten? 

So who owns the Presidency?

Banks,  Universities, large Industrials — precisely the groups of people who need the most favourable relationship with the President — and exactly the kind of groups that can be declared “too big to fail” and bailed out.

Maybe it’s time to take the money out of politics?