Crime #2: Corruption and White Collar Crime

In September, this blog will be focusing on crime. Last week, we talked about prisons and sentencing, and we are saving guns and violent crime for next week. This week, we will discuss corruption and white collar crime.

Discussion of corruption became more complicated with the Citizens United Decision in 2010. This decision by the Supreme Court said that money is speech, and is therefore protected by the first amendment unless quid pro quo corruption is proven. Given that this is nearly impossible to prove, it is effectively impossible to legally constrain spending on politics. The McCutcheon decision exacerbated the problem.

This post will explore what the candidates propose to do to combat these issues, and other white collar crimes.

Hillary Clinton has pledged to pursue a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision. Constitutional amendments are extremely difficult to pass, meaning that this pledge is effectively saying "There's nothing I can do."

In Clinton's defense, she does have a plan to rein in the largest banks. The Risk Fee and Tax on High-Frequency Trading are both interesting proposals, with the potential to really change the financial world.

Gary Johnson believes that the Citizens United Decision was a good decision, and that money is speech. If you want a government, then buy your own.

Johnson also wants to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, which was put in place to protect another financial collapse like the 2008 mortgage crisis. He has said that he wishes that the crisis had been allowed to get worse, and that the banking system should have been allowed to collapse.

Jill Stein is opposed to Citizens United, and, in addition to a constitutional amendment, wants to pursue other avenues to overturn that ruling. She doesn't accept donations from corporations, and thinks all candidates should refuse money from defense contractors.

Jill Stein believes that there are too many earmarks in politics, which are how congress tells the executive how much and where to spend money; she claims that earmarks lead to corruption. She also speaks out against super-PACs and lobbyists.

Finally, we have found an issue on which Stein is a reasonable candidate. The United States is the sixteenth least corrupt country on Earth, largely because of the moneyed interests Stein is railing against. If this is your big issue, Stein is your candidate.