View / What FIFA and the US economy have in common

One response to the ultimately irrelevant process by which Folarin Balogun suited up for the US Men’s National Team last night is: FIFA has always been corrupt, might as well make it work for us.

That’s how a lot of Americans feel about the economy, even those whose business cards might suggest they hold some power over it. The system is rigged, so get yours. President Donald Trump came to office promising change but has just re-rigged it — to his own benefit, as seen in last week’s financial disclosures, and sometimes to the benefit of the US, as seen in his efforts to stockpile key economic resources and force allies to shoulder a bigger share of collective defense. The latter got a win today when NATO countries unveiled tens of billions of dollars in new spending.

Nobody has ever been under the illusion that Washington or Wall Street runs on a level field. The economy has long been “a playground for political power,” as Sepp Blatter, who presided over FIFA’s graft-ridden years before being banned from the sport, this week richly urged soccer to never become. Tariff carveouts land on the computer components industry and it’s “relief,” not favoritism. Capital One got around federal limits on swipe fees by buying Discover’s card network; other banks complained, then went out looking for their own loophole. Fed independence is either sacrosanct or an unelected board protecting Wall Street. Opinions vary depending on your mortgage rate.

My conversations with corporate executives echo the sentiment: Don’t bother trying to reform the system, just play the angles. (Traders, of course, have always had this worldview.)

There’s another, less fatalistic response to both the Balogun red card reversal and the economic malaise. The market spoke. The better team won. The proximity-to-Trump angle didn’t work for the US men’s team, or for holders of his meme coin, or for many of the CEOs that have sought his favor. Other political forces are starting to reassert themselves as the US midterms approach, with Democrats shining a campaign-season spotlight on self-dealing, as Semafor’s Ben Smith wrote recently. Angles can be played, but only briefly.