DoD <--> defense contractors (military-industrial complex) is pretty close to the same. Never passed an audit and contractors were ripping off the DoD while creating scrap metal that was used by the Taliban. Trillions and trillions wasted.

Sounds like using an official position to make money.

A guy I used to know, a retired USAF Maj. pilot, acquired a bunch of racing cars, motorcycles, and a non-flyable MiG-21 through shady characters.

More than likely individual people try to get away with doing shady shit on the side rather than it being a grand UFO conspiracy.

I saw a John Kiriakou book on a shelf once.

In their minds, when (not if) they break laws, they should avoid getting caught... because that's all that matters.

Confirmed. CIA hires people with sociopathic/psychopathic tendencies and tries to hire them so they're mild rather than criminal in nature.

Ha, this was explored in some credible article here on HN some months ago, wasn't it? It made complete sense.

You can't be a nice balanced guy doing work which often dips in shady stuff, sometimes being responsible for killing innocents, or in extreme cases one's failed actions can send some region into death spiral of some small or larger conflict. No, you need (relatively) smart folks for whom emotions are just a tool to use on others to achieve your goals.

And this obviously has various side effects, some quite negative.

Moral flexibility if the term we use. Substance abuse is also, unfortunately, is a hallmark.

The only war is class war. Anyone not a centamillionaire should get together and take the power back from the criminal slime.

Separation between wealth and church and journalism and state.

It all started with political corruption, regulatory and policy capture of government by ever-increasing wealth, and deregulation and tax cuts that shifted incentives away from creating a middle class to creating a tiny cadre of billionaires. Taxing the rich heavily is vital to sustaining civilization, because without it, people are going to be much poorer relatively than they otherwise could've been and so they'll leave or not have kids.

Do you want regular or extra gerrymandering with that? And how about AIPAC and gold bar bribes?

> This is a product of making everyone and everything reliant on cars.

That's not necessarily the whole story. While walkable villages and cities would be a huge improvement in many areas of society and community resilience, however kids in un-walkable US suburbia and urban sprawl have had bicycles, skateboards, skates, or some form of mobility device since at least the 1950's. There have been dedicated bike lanes in some areas since around 1985-1990 and many have bike or multi-use trails. While not as fast or efficient as cars, it was how we got around before 15 ½ when one could apply for a learner's permit. About age 9 or 10 was when we were let loose.

You're looking at it too shallow. Kids don't bike because everything is too far away, because they expect you to drive out of the suburbs. The roads feel less safe, because everyone is in a car. Everyone in cars are unanimous, no social control.

When you have infrastructure that doesn't rely on cars, you will have schools and stores and communities right in your "suburb".