Every now and then I contemplate a system where, after leaving office, former high-level government officials are provided with a generous pension but subjected to a 100% tax on any income whatsoever from non-government sources. Obviously such a system has plenty of disadvantages - but apart from those, I wonder whether it would help the revolving door problem at all, or whether cronyism would persist even without financial motivation.
But then you have to also regulate the income of their family - it would be all to easy to give those financial motivations to their spouse, children, or others close to them.
Right, and there's also the ever popular "we'll donate to your favorite charity" maneuver (for a non-government example, witness the Captain Morgan NFL touchdown dance mini-controversy of a few years back).
It might be possible to do something about the friends/family issue with careful crafting of the laws - or maybe I'm just a closet monarchist. ;)
