Games that people play for keeps (Krugman)

[struggle4progress]

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Columnist


For the politically curious seeking entertainment, I’d like to propose two new trivia games: “Find the Brownie” and “Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff.”

The objective in “Find the Brownie” is to find an obscure but important government job held by someone whose only apparent qualifications for that job are political loyalty and personal connections. It’s inspired by President Bush’s praise, four days after Katrina hit, for the hapless Michael Brown, now the former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency: “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” I guess it depends on the meaning of the word “heck”. <snip>

Jack Abramoff is a lobbyist who received huge sums from clients such as casino-owning Indian tribes and sweatshop operators on Saipan. “Two Degrees of Jack Abramoff” is inspired by the remarkable centrality in Washington’s power structure of Abramoff, who was indicted last month on charges of fraud.

The goal is not to find important political players who were chummy with Abramoff — that’s too easy. Instead, you have to find people linked by employment. One degree of Jack Abramoff is someone who actually worked for the lobbyist. Two degrees is a powerful Washington figure who hired someone who formerly worked for Abramoff, or who had one of his own former employees go to work for Abramoff. <snip>

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/business/12777...