Politicians' Salaries and Corruption

The corrupted politicians by and large have the money already and have it through things like rent and capital gains, not salary. Paying more as a salary enables more average people to leave their current jobs to take part in politics.

This is the reason politicians get salaries.

The flip side of that coin is that poorly paid elected officials are much easier to bribe.In the US Congress (& even Presidents) view elected office as a stepping stone to a better paid corporate retirement. Look at how much Clinton gets paid to speak at Goldman Sachs' events.

Corrupt government officials get a commission on big contracts. It happens all the time. Why do you think people spend so much campaigning for low paying political offices? They can be quite lucrative investments. There are NDAs and other threats to shutdown whistleblowers.

Just like high salaries prevent politicians from being bribed, right?

GP's idea is extreme but Salary has nothing to go with corruption.Politicians take money not to enrich their lifestyle, but to spend on getting elected/re-elected

I'm of the opinion that politicians above a certain level (in the UK: prime minister, members of Parliament and maybe mayors) should just get a permenant annuity for the rest of their lives on the condition that they can't make money from anything else, ever. No stocks, no "speaking engagements" or do nothing bribery jobs. It would be expensive yes, but cheaper than the cost of corruption. Maybe have the value of the annuity be based of rank, MP gets 300k/y and PM gets 5

"trying to evaluate...". Normal people aren't trying to evaluate becoming a politician. It's a lifelong career for most people and you think the lunch lady or librarian who constantly gives back to their community was evaluating on "becoming" a politician? The financial incentives should be lowered. Pay them like you pay a school teacher and ban insider trading. Then you wouldn't have all these worthless nepo babies who just want a lax job and power over people

It’s not a money issue. The US government has plenty of money. It’s a perception of corruption issue. The government can’t have high paying jobs because voters will punish politicians if they do.

What was once cash in a brown envelope is now the high paid job once they leave office. Envelopes stuffed with cash have become rare, the latter have grown hugely. The net effect on a politician's personal wealth and the likely effects on ethics of public office are similar.Some sort of politician's equivalent of a ten year non-compete clause seems in order.