The "10% for the big guy" example of bribery gave me an idea for giving politicians an incentive to spend less public money. This is a kind of anti-graft proposal that might be popular with those who favor smaller government:

Give all those who hold elected office -- from the local dog-catcher up to the POTUS -- a base pay, and then give them an annual salary bonus of 0.001% for every dollar of public spending they REDUCE. So, if the Prez reduced the annual budget by $100 billion, for that year he'd get a personal bonus of $100 million. Or if a state governor cut his state's budget by $100 million, he'd get $100,000. A good incentive to cut public spending!

Of course, one man alone (POTUS, or a governor, or mayor, or town councilor) may not be able to make the decision to cut the budget by X amount; if it has to be voted on, then maybe the bonus would have to be divided among those officeholders assisting in making the cut.

I think of it as a kind of reverse bribery. Let them get a bonus, if that's what will help save trillions from our public expenditures.