Massive Wealth Means Massive Corruption
Guest post by Jack Gleason – 1/15/26
We’re rightfully outraged by headlines exposing nine billion dollars stolen by Somalis in Minnesota, but few Americans understand the magnitude of the problem. The Somalis are the “tip of the tip” of the iceberg.
Simply put, where there is wealth, there is corruption; and massive wealth means massive corruption.
And the United States is the wealthiest country to ever exist…
U.S. oil and gas resources are worth roughly $137 trillion.
Land value, including residential and commercial real estate, and farmland – $84 trillion.
The estimated value of all U.S. natural resources, including energy, timber, and minerals – $45 trillion.
The U.S. stock market total capitalization is nearing $47 trillion.
U.S. Gross Domestic Product for 2025 is projected at $30.6 trillion.
Our federal government’s total revenue was approximately $5.23 trillion for 2025. U.S. state tax revenue – $1.3 trillion.
2024 Federal government spending was $6.8 trillion, including Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, food assistance, veterans’ benefits, defense, education, transportation, and infrastructure, with interest on national debt – $1 trillion.
State & Local spending – $4.3 trillion.
U.S. healthcare spending in 2024 – $5.3 trillion, with an 8.2% growth rate.
This list puts the value of the United States at roughly 320 TRILLION DOLLARS.
Each area of wealth fields an army of people raising money, conducting business, and spending money, with $4.4 billion per year spent lobbying for more.
Control the government, you control the country, it’s economy and resources. Political spending for each two-year cycle is estimated at $6 billion for Presidential and Congressional candidates, $15.7 billion for PACs, party committees and independent expenditures – $7.1 billion. Statewide and local elections – $9 billion. Total political spending – $38 billion. No one spends that much money without expecting a significant return on their investment.
Bureaucrats, regulators and judges determine policies and spending, and very few are incorruptible. Cash, gifts, a tip on the stock market, or a cushy job for a close relative can sway important decisions affecting billions in spending.
With such massive amounts of money at stake, it’s no wonder that bribery, influence peddling, blackmail, and even murder, are regular tools of drug cartels, mega-corporations, and even political parties who launder cash into political campaigns using identity theft. Everyone wants their piece of the massive pie that is the United States.
Corruption is nothing new…
Between AD 300-400, Roman emperors issued hundreds of anti-corruption laws (unsuccessfully) addressing bribery, embezzlement, sale of offices, judicial corruption and tax fraud.
Provincial governorships and military posts were openly purchased. Governors routinely paid large sums up front, then recouped costs by exploiting taxpayers.
Tax corruption was estimated at 20-40%. Funds were siphoned off by local tax collectors, provincial governors, and military officials.
Tax rolls were falsified. Wealthy landowners bribed officials to shift taxes onto peasants, bankrupting the state while burdening the poor.
Military officers collected pay for nonexistent troops. Equipment budgets were embezzled. In some armies, 10–25% of listed soldiers were fictitious. Soldiers paid bribes to avoid duty or dangerous postings.
Inflation and corruption reinforced each other. From AD 200 to 300, the silver content of Roman coins fell from 90% to under 5%.
Court verdicts were routinely decided by bribes. Judges openly expected payments. Innocent people were convicted for inability to pay.
The elite extracted enormous wealth and paid few taxes. By the 4th–5th centuries an estimated 1–2% of the population controlled over 50% of land. Senators could own estates larger than entire provinces. The state increasingly served private interests over public ones.
Corruption was not the sole cause of the demise of the Roman Empire, but it was a critical accelerant. It drained revenue, undermined military effectiveness, destroyed public trust and shifted loyalty from the state.
Sound familiar?
Venezuela also tops the news. In 1950 it was the fourth richest nation in the world. Transparency International ranked Venezuela 178th of 180 countries for corruption. Elites live in guarded compounds while citizens starve.
Iran was ranked 18th richest in 1977. Now their currency is worth zero. Its corruption rank is 151/180.
In the United States, Big Pharma seeks to control approval of new drugs. They limit negative news on side effects and out-of-control Obamacare waste and fraud by spending billions on drug advertising. Our leftist media spins every news story to hide the truth. Politicians from both sides are bought off to maintain the status quo.
An even greater threat is what Eisenhower called “the military industrial complex,” which creates “forever wars” while former military officials rotate directly into the defense industry. It is estimated that the U.S. spent $8 trillion on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with current world-wide spending of $2.7 trillion. When they build weapons, planes, ships and ammunition and no one uses them, their business dries up. Millions are spent each year on lobbying and political contributions to those on the prestigious Armed Services Committee.
Control elections and control everything. Pouring even a small amount of money into a campaign for a cooperative candidate at the state or local level can change school curricula, business and zoning laws, and law enforcement, judges, sheriffs and prosecutors. These candidates can be relied upon to serve their masters’ wishes. News about fundraising corruption exposes the culprits.
If you can’t win elections with excessive spending, why not just rig the votes? Democrat corruption is legendary but RINOs are worse – they pretend to want honest government while thwarting every attempt at meaningful change. It’s all theater for the masses.
The Kleptocrats hate Trump and Musk because they are among the few people in the world capable of resisting. The Left Media deliver a steady drumbeat of TDS hate and panic, while ignoring everything positive. Like master magicians, they use distraction- “We’re delighted that the corruption in Minnesota has been found. Nothing else to see here.”
Their goal is to make us weak, sick, stupid, entertained and drugged.
Thankfully, Americans are finally starting to wake up. We must realize that corruption is now so pervasive that it permeates every aspect of our society. It’s like a termite infestation so extreme that there is no wood left in the house, just termites, windows and paint.
As we struggle to pay rent, electric bills, groceries, healthcare, taxes and housing, we now understand that fraud doesn’t just cost the U.S. government, it hurts everyday Americans even worse.
We are approaching our 250th birthday. Will we beat back the forces of corruption, or go the way of the Roman Empire, Venezuela or Iran? It’s up to us…
We are the only country strong enough to fight back against globalists, cartels and foreign and internal enemies. If we can blunt the military industrial complex and end forever wars, peace could break out over the entire planet, but there will be huge resistance.
We must choose a world of peace and prosperity where people can actually get ahead through hard work.
We need more efforts like DOGE using sophisticated computer techniques to expose billions in payments for contracts that didn’t exist for work that was never done.
We must support efforts to replace Obamacare and cut drug costs.
We need strong new laws protecting whistleblowers like Tina Peters, especially those being prosecuted, coerced or blackmailed.
Donald Trump has just established a new DOJ division to combat national fraud. But unless he can restore voting fairness, nothing will change as the Democrats and RINOs cheat their way into the House and Senate once again.
Jack Gleason is a conservative, common-sense, political writer. If you have story ideas or comments his email is [email protected] and his always-free Substack is jackgleason.substack.com
Debt is not wealth. We have an unlimited printing press. We're wealthy in paper & ink.
The point of my article is that our country is so wealthy that every dishonest person/organization wants a piece. This isn't just about printing money, but devaluing our currency through inflation is definitely a way to steal wealth from the average taxpayer.
The communist steal everything to get that wealth in their bank accounts. Communism is the seizing of private property by the government. New York is before the state Supreme Court trying to seize old people life insurance policies by claiming that if they lived past the age of 95. The Communist that control New York has deemed that living beyond the age of 95 is above the limiting age and their life insurance policy is now deemed abandoned and owned by the state.
look it up and enjoy the read index number 10/115336
Even so, the government isn't the worst thief because there are reasonable services that can be performed by governments (ie. universal health care and education funding); the worst by far are the financial grifters all the way down to small investors who expect wealth for nothing more than parking their savings with an investment firm.
There is need for a strong and visible voice for "We the People" not paying Federal and State taxes until the fraud, weaponization and foot on the neck of the American people stops!
We need a comprehensive forensic audit of our Federal government as well as the money going to the states.
Not in favor of a tax boycott, but a Fed audit would be great. Look how vigorously they resisted the DOGE team!
We don't have free enterprise in the US.
We have crony capitalism, where the big businesses get all the tax breaks and incentives at the cost to small businesses and taxpayers.
And we have Chosen Winners, chosen by the Deep State. Examples include Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and all of the Big Tech leaders.
These are not self-made billionaires, and they serve the wishes of the Deep State that created them.
It is time for a new revolution, taking down the high-finance grifters who wield almost unlimited power. Nuke Davos the next time they meet. Too bad for all the Epstein-style girls who gather to serve those degenerates.
My article was making this point. Expose not just the small potatoes Somalis, but realize they're a distraction from the big players stealing trillions.
It's not about money. It's never been about the money. It's about power, the ability to control what others think, say, and do.
Money is just the means to that end. Power can be seized by force, but that also requires money, and results in resentfulness and rebellion. But buying power? Far more effective.
Power over others is the greatest drug in the world. Nothing comes close. Nothing is even in the same universe.
Trump campaigned on that, then turned out to be another forever-war neocon.
Was there huge resistance? Nope.
Evidently war is good now to MAGA
Trump can be faulted not for going to war but for failing to WIN the right war when the time is right. Look at the massacres going on in Iran and Nigeria. Iran would be a free country now if Trump hadn't called off the attack after the bunker-busters were dropped. In Nigeria, he authorized one attack on Muslim murderers and then drew a useless line in the sand.
If the US is unwilling to be the world's policeman then it should return the wealth and power that it stripped from Great Britain in WWII and hopefully Churchill's inheritors will do what serves humanity best.
It's not a certainty, just the opportunity.
With Great anything comes great Responsibility.
Some just aren't up to the task.
The worst of it is that massive wealth comes about not from doing something extraordinary (with some exceptions. like Musk's) but simply by exploiting the efforts of others. Look at Soros .. what has he ever done except prey on the wealth of others? Every legacy wealthy family, every foundation, everyone getting rich without successfully marketing something; grifters all.
Investments should be a means of preserving EARNED money, not as a path to enriching oneself. Jews have been almost universally hated because Middle Ages Christian hypocrites wanted them to be the money lenders that Christ, they thought, forbade themselves being. Many Jews became wealthy through shrewd lending and are resented to this day for doing exactly what investors of their savings expect today.
I'm not impressed by this comment. Blaming something on Jews because of Soros, or history from the Middle Ages doesn't help.
I’m not blaming Jews. Read my comment again.
Thanks for your reply. I probably read it wrong. I see "Jew" and "hate" and I react.
DOGEII with a real budget and 10k school trained professionals, FOLLOW THE MONEY
Amazing how much pushback DOGE got. The only people fighting DOGE were the ones DOGE was getting ready to expose.
Our founding fathers showed the way. They also warned us about trusting government and holding them accountable, but we failed on both counts. However, it is not too late.
We need to be thinking in terms of actions to take. Talk is cheap, action is priceless. That's why I always list things we can be doing to solve the problems I bring up…
Most of us never really think about what it's like to have "massive" wealth. Unlimited, can't spend it in a lifetime wealth. Think about it.
You never think about things like bills and debts. The cost of any item is irrelevant. You can buy anything you desire. Or a dozen of them.
You will never be convicted of any crime, because you can always buy someone to get you off the hook. That's why we'll never see the list of Epstein clients. They can pay for "privacy".
You can influence national gov't officials – even senators and presidents. You can just outright buy judges and local gov'ts. Things like EPA rules and zoning ordinances don't apply to you.
You can buy witnesses, including police officers. "Everyone has a price" is mostly true. If there's really no difference to you between buying someone for $1000 or $1,000,000, almost everyone has a price, or at least enough of them for you to get your way.
It's a lifestyle most of us will never really understand, but the truth is that money buys power, whether in a democratic republic or a communist dystopia.
Bribes are certainly an element, but blackmail and violence are also part of the picture.
True
Trump is the most corrupt president we have ever had.
The headline/thesis of the article is wrong. It is not massive wealth that fosters corruption, it is massive government. If politicians and officials were not for sale there would be no buyers.
No matter what size the government is, there will always be those who want to control things for their own benefit.
That's pretty accurate.
The Democrat commies will be promising those who vote for them the moon, in the style of Mamdani. It worked so well for him in NYC that this will be the new tactic in 2026 and beyond. That's why the Dems dumbed down the schools. Young people are stupid as he!! now unless they, on some initiative of their own, studied history and outcomes in communist countries.
I just hope enough Americans wake up and vote – hopefully in honest elections.
The love of money is the root of all evil. It's one thing all these corrupt people have in common.
The love of
moneyenriching oneself at the expense of others is the root of all evil.Not "all" evil, but "much" evil: "The love of money is the root of much evil." Much corrupt behavior is for instance motivated by out-of-control sexual lust.
The bible says it's easier to thread a camel through the eye of a needle than for a wealthy person to get into Heaven.
That's why the evil ones want your money so they can make their own heaven on earth while they're alive. They're all hell bound.
What`s that awful smell? Did you forget to DOGE?
So……………when are we going to find out that Fort Knox is empty?????
This is why we should never put money into their hands under any circumstances, with limited exceptions.
We let them impose an income tax on us. Then they started a ponzi pension scheme. Then they started taking over our bodies with their health care schemes.
We only have ourselves to blame.
Peace out.
Americans have been trained to trust our government and institutions. I think COVID woke up a lot of people to think before we obey.
Exactly. We take the Social Security scam for granted. We think we won’t get good or any health care if we get rid of Medicare (when it is just the opposite). We think the government should be controlling school funding and we end up with political pawns doing both the teaching and learning. We trust the Government to fix the drug problem and it only gets worse, almost as if this were the intended result.
I’m talking even “hardcore conservatives” who believe in this dreck.
The "love of money" as Joe Hoft is calling it is mostly about the " Love of Control" to these folks. Control by any means.
You forgot that during our civil war one could pay $300 to avoid the draft….
Those that cry racism are the ones committing most of the fraud.
It's not really wealth but massive government spending that funds corruption. I support Trump for the most part, but don't even try to pretend that he isn't right in the middle of all the corruption. He's meddling in AI data centers, crypto, Qatar, etc…and I guarantee you he's using it to set himself and his family up for the future. We don't need our government making deals, subsidizing, punishing, regulating and all that stuff. We just need then to create a business-friendly environment then get out of the way.
Nancy Pelosi & Lots Dems
Get Rich
Thru Their illegal Abuse of Power
.
,
Not thrilled with this "Trump is only doing this for himself" comment either. If Trump was out to better himself and his family then he wouldn't be risking his life daily by being President again.
Massive Wealth Means Massive Corruption
means
99% of Congress / Senate / Supreme Court
Most of that wealth is coming out of the working people pockets and it's an illusion and a falsity to assume that everyone in the country is wealthy when in fact they are not. Taxes are way too high if there is so much money floating around that it can be stolen thru fraud and thrown away on ridiculous causes and at other countries that give back no return.
In my opinion, the 1%ers are beyond greedy.
How much is enough?
It will never be enough. When the jigs up, they're toast.
The storm is upon us. Fun times ahead
Good post, but missing the most important part of the equation. It all begins with love of money, and who you will serve.
It all begins with love of
moneyenriching oneself at the expense of others.Sure…. Whatever makes your wallet feel better.
Money is a tool used to redistribute/defraud, it desn't have any value in itself, it's not the goal, the goal is to live off the fruits of other peoples labor.
Money AND power.
This is why you don't want to give the government "massive wealth": it necessarily leads to massive corruption. The only answer is to return to LIMITED GOVERNMENT espoused by our founders. End the income tax and the Federal Reserve, 2 unconstitutional contrivances in the US. [Where was our judiciary, our Supreme Court back then??? Was it as corrupt as now?]
Money in the form of taxes is just part of the problem. My point was that our country is so rich in resources and the size of our economy, we must do more than just reform taxes and the Fed.
Most of the negative comments sound like the commenters are communists. Marx smiles.
Yes, trolls are working overtime today on just about every story.
Meaning Nancy Pelosi &
Lots Of Other Dem Politicians
Should Definitely
Be Locked Up ‼️
.
.
And if leftists get their hands on it again, it'll all get ran into the ground at warp speed…
Hence, the best indicator for exposing corruption is "follow the money."
Even Grok could likely create a simple DOGE test for all politicians and their families that would easily expose those whose annual reporting exceeds their legitimate income potential. Sounds like a job for @DataRepublican, who excels in such investigations.