Oh please. Ever watched Mad Men, or any other tv/film that shows the wining and dining of prospective clients by a sales person/team? Every time a sales person spends money on a prospective client is written off as an expense, so the gov't is pretty much condoning it.
There are tons of stories of big pharma sending doctors to lavish resorts in the guise of a "conference". Ever heard of payola? The music business has been based on bribes. Why would you think of the film business being different? Hell, the states are involved just as much with tax incentives to entice productions to use their state/cities as location for that production.
You're being quite cynical trying to wrap any person with knowledge of these payout schemes as being involved/complicit.
I'm always amazed at how people around me really think this way. Yes, every high school chemistry teacher is a meth overlord, and you can just walk into Bank of Spain and rob it, haven't you seen it? facepalm
You're sarcasm is so good, I can't tell which direction it is aimed. That's pretty impressive.
Yes, I know my chem101 teacher wasn't Heisenberg. Yes, I understand how TV is fiction. However, are you really so thick to not realize that fiction is based on reality. Fiction isn't written in a vaccum, and the most interesting plots are typically based on some real situation the author has experienced, seen/heard, etc. Yes, it is dramatized to make the really boring parts interesting so people tune in, but come on. If you don't think a Don Draper/Walter White type existed as a single person or an amalgamation of multiple people then you just have your head in the sand.
Using modern TV/Film/media in examples isn't a cluelessness on the speaker's part. It's used as something much more relatable than an esoteric story that you might or might not be able to provide a link to.
There are tons of stories of big pharma sending doctors to lavish resorts in the guise of a "conference". Ever heard of payola? The music business has been based on bribes. Why would you think of the film business being different? Hell, the states are involved just as much with tax incentives to entice productions to use their state/cities as location for that production.
You're being quite cynical trying to wrap any person with knowledge of these payout schemes as being involved/complicit.