[dragonwriter]

> Compare with the alternative

That's not the alternative. You are constructing a false dichotomy.

The current pay structure and a GDP-indexed pay structure aren't the only alternatives.

But, Even ignoring the false dichotomy, this...

> Literally every top decision maker in federal government has a massive financial incentive to accept affordable bribes.

...is clearly better, since the intereses of bribers conflict, and it this becomes in the interests of politicians to discover, publicize, and punish others bribes, even if it means putting into place systems that also limit the bribes they themselves will be able to get away with. Whereas, with all government officials having aligned incentives for identical deceit, you make unified corruption more likely.

[souprock]

Unfortunately for that theory of conflicting bribes, much of the world is foreign. Bribes from foreign nations are mostly against the interest of country the politician is supposed to be running. Those bribes are incredibly cost-effective in the USA.

The currency of DC is blackmail. They will not discover, publicize, and punish other's bribes. They use the threat of that to keep each other in line. This is bipartisan collaboration.

[dragonwriter]

> They will not discover, publicize, and punish other's bribes.

You know, that would be more convincing if it weren't shortly after investigations spiralling out from opposition research conducted by a political campaign unearthed the funnelling of foreign government money to campaigns through a notionally grassroots advocacy group that had long been influential in partisan politics, among other political corruption involving that organization, while retaliation for other political blowback growing out of the same source also focussed major attention expanding into a criminal investigation of foreign corruption allegations touching close to politicians on the other side of the aisle.