Another potential scandal has erupted (it was already boiling beneath the surface) in the soccer world.  At first glance you would think this has nothing to do with politics.  And you would be wrong.  It appears that for many years now—no surprise—the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the world governing body for soccer—has been accepting bribes and kickbacks from both potential sponsors, who have a lot to gain, and governments, where politics comes in.  Countries may well.   Countries may have been paying FIFA officials to sway their decisions about where to hold championships.  In fact, a report just today (May 27, 2015) indicates the Clinton Foundation or Bill Clinton himself may have accepted money to help Qatar get the soccer games there.

Well, regardless of the particulars of the case, what struck me was that no matter what the organization, where there is power and influence, there is money and cronyism.  Private or public, it occurs.  Now I happen to think it makes more of a difference when public officials are involved because in many cases they are using our (taxpayers’) money to further their own aims and not generally ours.

The Clinton scandal was mainly about using money to buy influence with the State Department or some other Federal agency.  The FIFA scandal is about buying influence with a semi-private organization to benefit some government somewhere in the world, not on its merits as having offered a better location but because it paid to influence officials.  Now I also have a big problem with all this “bidding war” going on around the world as nations and cities offer ever-higher amounts in terms of promises to lure the Olympic Games or some other event to their location.  But we all know that most of the money comes from the taxpayers of those locations and most of the land needed for the venues comes at the expense of those with the least voice.

Still, that doesn’t justify the money influence purchasing.  It is cronyism and it should not be tolerated.  Unfortunately until power is reduced in governments, it will continue because the incentives are too strong to ignore.  Those who bribe are nothing if not smart.  They know where to go to get what they want.  They go to those with real ability to help them—those with power or influence.  The only way to reduce the incentive is to make it less lucrative to give bribes or to take them.  And that can only be done by taking a lot more power away from government.  If government officials could no longer “help” those with money they wouldn’t offer it.  And if that happened, we would all be better off.

The mantra has been chanted for decades but so far little or nothing has happened.  Perhaps it is time for a grass roots movement.  But maybe we are all too happy with what we get, so maybe I am barking up the wrong tree.  But tell that to the poor in Buenos Aires who are being forced off their land to make way for the massive Olympic venues or who cannot get basic services because Brazil is too poor or doesn’t care about them—in part because it is too busy wasting money to get two weeks of games for the rich and famous.