The United States has in many ways styled itself as the world's policeman. In addition to having a worldwide military presence, the U.S. has passed and stringently enforced laws like the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act to prevent U.S. companies from bribing foreign officials, and even filed corruption charges against The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). However, here at home, Washington has fully embraced a practice that looks a lot like bribery, simply after the fact, in the form of deferred prosecution agreements. Of course, from a legal perspective, no one is actually guilty of bribery on either side of the table. The proverbial road to hell on which we find ourselves is paved with the good intentions of G-men and women out to nab the bad guy. They would never take a bribe. At least not up front. These G-folks fear political oversight of their jobs and global economic repercussions of enforcing the law. Send a bank to jail and the economy fails. Send a bank to jail and you may set off the lobbyist zombie apocalypse on Capitol Hill. But, send a bank a fine and everyone wins! There's no market collapse, no bad press and you're a de facto rainmaker for the Feds.
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