The topic has derailed from accoubtability and transperancy to American
   politics with just you two guys talking. Borderline r/Conspiracy.

   (Note: I meant to type "$700,000" in Nigeria, below, not "$700.)
   Oh, non-perceptive one, I seek to enlighten you. While the payment for
   bribery normally is thought of as occurring _before_ (or during) the
   payback desired, as a practical matter it isn't very practical to bribe
   an American president while he is in office. But since the office of
   President will continue to exist, and the people who are inclined to
   get favors will continue to exist, and they all know this (see 'game
   theory'), a logical solution is to delay the bribe payment until the
   office-holder is out of office. Obviously, while a president may wonder
   what would motivate a briber to actually pay the bribe after he leaves
   office, the reality is (remember reality?) is that word of welshing
   will surely get back to the subsequent office-holder(s), poisoning the
   well for the almost-but-not-quite-briber in the future. No doubt, for
   example, America's First Muslim President will pick up tens or even
   hundreds of millions of dollars doing the rubber-chicken circuit in the
   (Muslim) Middle-east. Do you wonder why Obama hasn't 'jawboned' the
   Arab oil producers to drop oil prices to, say, $60 per barrel? Do you
   wonder why he hasn't made more threats to open up the spigots of the
   Strategic Petroleum Reserve? Or why he hasn't approved the construction
   of the Keystone oil pipeline? That's right: Obama is carrying-water for
   the very people he expects to be bribed by about 3.5 years hence.
   Jim Bell
     __________________________________________________________________

   From: Al Billings <[1]albill@openbuddha.com>
   To: "[2]cypherpunks@cpunks.org" <[3]cypherpunks@cpunks.org>; Jim Bell
   <[4]jamesdbell8@yahoo.com>; Guido Witmond <[5]guido@witmond.nl>
   Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 10:29 AM
   Subject: Re: bitcoin as a global medium of exchange (was Re:
   Interesting take on Sanjuro's Assassination Market)
   What do you bribe an ex-president (out of office since the millennium)
   to do for you when lecturing?
     __________________________________________________________________

   From:Jim Bell [6]Jim Bell
   Reply:Jim Bell [7]jamesdbell8@yahoo.com
   Date:November 26, 2013 at 10:26:25 AM
   To:Guido Witmond [8]guido@witmond.nl, [9]cypherpunks@cpunks.org
   [10]cypherpunks@cpunks.org
   Subject: Re: bitcoin as a global medium of exchange (was Re:
   Interesting take on Sanjuro's Assassination Market)

   Look what has happened to Bill Clinton after leaving office. It's said
   he's worth $100 million (In USD, presumably). Mostly this comes in the
   form of 'speaking fees': As much as $700 in Nigeria. This is
   not-so-thinly-disguised bribery. One solution that would slow him down
   would be a 95% tax rate on an ex-president's income, at least that
   above $400,000 per year.

   --
   Al Billings
   [11]http://makehacklearn.org

References

   1. mailto:albill@openbuddha.com
   2. mailto:cypherpunks@cpunks.org
   3. mailto:cypherpunks@cpunks.org
   4. mailto:jamesdbell8@yahoo.com
   5. mailto:guido@witmond.nl
   6. mailto:jamesdbell8@yahoo.com
   7. mailto:jamesdbell8@yahoo.com
   8. mailto:guido@witmond.nl
   9. mailto:cypherpunks@cpunks.org
  10. mailto:cypherpunks@cpunks.org
  11. http://makehacklearn.org/