> The solution to the above problem would be transparency of government actions, an independent press, and free and fair elections.
Those all seem like very nebulous concepts that ring hollow under inspection. Force is much easier to understand and identify when it is being used.
And notice that my problem was not with bond issuance; it was with bonds secured by forceful seizure to pay them back.
Corruption in government is indeed quite a hard problem, which exists in various corrosive amounts in different countries and societies. But it’s orthagonal to the basic concept of issuing bonds, except insofar as any pot of money anywhere in the private or public sector is at risk of being captured via principal/agent effects.
If you want to talk about corruption then talk about corruption directly. The solution to the above problem would be transparency of government actions, an independent press, and free and fair elections.