This sort of endemic corruption has brought down empires throughout all history. We are not immune. Only the most severe political chemotherapy may give us hope.
True. However, waste, fraud, and corruption (as well as Unions) have been around a long time.
Back during the Depression, the WPA, The government funded DAM projects, the WH Admin were notified that there was a lot of money being spent, and not much getting done.
They wanted to send out teams to visit work sites (notifying the Contractor and the Union Leader ahead of time of their visit), and have them see what was wrong.
Two men decided that this would never work, so they took a convertible and just drove across the country, visiting these government funded worksites and work programs. They would just drive up, stop, get out and act like to lost rubes, or a couple of gawky tourists, asking questions of the workers about what they were building, etc.
This 'team' found millions and millions of dollars being lost to corruption and their information put a big clamp on most of the waste and fraud.
FOR BONUS POINTS, name one of these men. (Hint, He is one of the most well known people in the US History)