How to become a corrupt politician(serious)
I received an offer at a top bb/eb and go to a t20 and all is good in that way but I've always wanted to play a role in politics however that may be. I'm from 2 Eastern European countries and would happily go to either and do whatever it takes, how would I do this because I just don't like the idea of a corporate life. I’m fine with putting someone in a suitcase if needed and am willing to risk the consequences and possible need to run if things go south. I have barely any family and no money at all, do have a lot of friends but that only goes so far.
Goal is by the time I die I’m fully in with my countries elite, I’m as wealthy as possible and my kids will go down a similar route and have as easy of a life as possible and especially power to the point where I can almost do anything.
If you have to ask, you probably aren't cut out for it. The solution is twofold: 1) to know powerful people and have their ear, and 2) understand what they want and be able to deliver it to them. Everything else is distillate.
Exit opps include jail
As a fellow Eastern European, the way to do this right now is to start a campaign on deporting Muslims. You will instantly gain mass support from your fellow countrymen, giving you a voice in politics. From there, use your finance connections to accept a few bribes and proceed to get slop on the beach by Russian whores.
step 1 is to be born wealthy and connected. otherwise it will involve eating a lot of shit.
step 2 is pivot to geopolitical analyst role after IB.
Step 1 failed badly already. Step 2 seems doable.
In those markets money talks and starting from where you are it’s the long game
You’ll have to commit to working until you are 40-50 deep (assume 25 years of grinding) to buy your way into the game
On your way up grease the right up and comers in your homeland to build relationships
It’s not.oligarch money but generally 10mm placed in the right hands can get you there with another 10mm in escrow to buy your way out of trouble. 10mm to have a place in London or Zug if it all goes tits up. And 10mm to finance your lifestyle when it goes tits up and 10mm for women
Thus my 50mm number
Most normal European populist political party leader
depends which eastern european country. gdp size? relevancy to global economy?
I would get doxxed from this.
Go apply to HKS and network. Common fact that people don’t realize is how many dignitaries send their kids here to take up prominent positions in their home governments.
My napkin math take is go to HKS and hustle some connections.
Not sure if you're really cut for this with your "cookie-butter T20 background".
Corrupt politicians in Eastern Europe either come from a criminal background or have a criminal network doing the dirty work on their behalf.
You also need an extremely paranoic and survival-oriented mindset to excel in this - can't be taught lol, circumstances made them be like this - because back stabbing is always possible and many people in this game also have a big ego, so if you come across in a wrong way for anyone on the opposing side of the table, be ready to be face with random "sabotages".
I also hope you have a strong network of cousins/childhood friends/etc. in this game, because otherwise, those that do, are more hesitant to welcome an outside in their crew.
I also hope you're comfortable with the idea of having your family live abroad so they don't become target of kidnaps or intimidation (by having grown man following your children at school, etc.).
I also hope you're comfortable fighting corrupt criminal cases at prosecution offices and being blackmailed to do illegal things that other may push you to do.
Bottom line, and the main idea, is that the moment you accept a bribery or you do something illegal, you are on the highest level of risk to be someone's slave for almost until you quit the game, because the people sitting high in those games don't act directly, they act with intermediaries, so if you accept to do anything illegal when someone approaches with the proposal, they can easily record/photograph/have proofs of you doing it, so you lost all the leverage of pushing any of your "wills". If you go to jail because of this, you're done. If the other guy, who put you in the situation, also goes to jail is no big deal. He gets a huge payout from his bosses and they wait him back on a "new rank" in the criminal organization.
The only path, realistically, is to become someone's mentee who is in this game and people will start trusting you and relying on you because of your mentor. This is basically how Abramovich started. He was under one of the 2 biggest oligarchs back in 90s Russia and people got interested in him because he was smart. Other people had a different faith: They were as young, smart, and ambitious, so it was only a matter of time until they start making some moves to get powerful, so people anticipated it and made fictitious criminal cases on them to have them closed for 10/20 years or flee the country.
Otherwise, if you refer to a more lax term of "corrupt politician", then yeah, doable, no big deal. You just stay in your office and get from time to time x1 year salary to advocate and push for legislation or documents to favor some dubious projects in legally grey areas (real estate, privatizations, etc.) but do you really want to risk 5/10 years of jail for 1/4th of an IB year salary?
So if I were trying to do this, it all depends on your country and its economy. If you're from a country with any kind of national commodity marketing ministry/SOE that operates any sort of tender/bidding process for volumes or loading windows for instance. People are always looking for a way around the tender, so if you can sit in the gatekeeper's seat between natural resources and the broader market, there are huge opportunities for bribery, (we prefer to call them commissions). Just take a look up the following for the standard playbook:
Diezani Alison-Madueke (Nigeria)
Albert Yuma Mulimbi (Gecamines)
Nilsen Arias Sandoval (Petroecudaor/Gunvor)
Of course, this is no secret in most 3rd world places, so prepare to face stiff competition and existing patronage networks. Schemes I have heard of before: phytosanitary ministries - can ban any agri cargo from unloading due to "an infestation" that requires a payment to resolve. Cargo inspection services (public or private) - a similar scam to the previous one. Any kind of gov't purchasing board - Egypt's GASC getting replaced with Mostakbal Misr for instance. Customs clearance is always a good one - especially for shipments with huge demurrage rates (i.e. create a delay that can be "resolved" for less than the same amount of time spent in demurrage).
Long story short - go find whatever commodity adjacent ministry in your country (hopefully they produce some valuable raw material demanded by traders globally) and start working your way up. From what I understand there's an element of a corruption waterfall in many places - in that if the minister of oil gets 1mm, he doesn't keep it all and it flows downhill throughout his power structure to keep everyone in line.
Ad commodi eum vitae rerum omnis repudiandae expedita. Enim sunt soluta hic fugit magni blanditiis optio. Voluptas ut quo asperiores tempora et et ut.
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