Adams indictment shows NYs campaign-finance system enables tax-fueled corruption

I missed the boat on Nvidia and the near 200% explosion of its stock price in just one year, with a market capitalization about to eclipse the entire London Stock Exchange.I thought I was sharp, but my Charles Schwab portfolio is only rivaled in its failings by my DraftKings sports betting account and its emphasis on struggling golfers and West Ham United.However, there’s one investment scheme where my political friends and I are Wall Street Apes: the New York City campaign-finance system.Cha-ching!One glance at the indictment against Mayor Adams shows how the system is ripe for abuse.Despite the hype, taxpayer-funded elections are not a prophylactic against political corruption, but instead have often enabled it.The reason is plain.If you think Nvidia had a meteoric rise, buckle up while I tell you about the guaranteed payouts of the NYC Campaign Finance Board.No financial market on earth, no pump-and-dump, no meme stock can match its return on investment.First implemented in 1988 as a dollar-for-dollar match to ward off corruption, the city’s campaign-finance spending has ballooned — like all government programs — into an eye-popping 8-to-1 match.By the way, that’s 8-to-1 for the primary, and another 8-to-1 for the general election.

A $250 donation could be worth up to $4,250 months later.Eyeing a 16-to-1 money line on your campaign burn is better odds than blackjack.And in this table game, not only does the player make out, but so do the dealers — the consultants, fundraisers and bundlers.To be sure, it isn’t the Campaign Finance Board that has caused the problem.The agency is chock-full of public servants who genuinely believe in its mission and strive to avoid the abuse of the city’s treasury.But the system was devised and its rules outlined by its very beneficiaries: Politicians like me, ever-focused on raising money for the next race.That’s like allowing stockbrokers to make up their own rules — and making the public guarantee their retu...