I am appalled by the reports of Greek corruption. A civilized country, such as the US, manages to keep corruption in check by redefining it as lobbying.
I am appalled by the reports of Greek corruption. A civilized country, such as the US, manages to keep corruption in check by redefining it as lobbying.
7 comments:
Beware of both overbearing Greeks and lobbyists.
First law of pirates: If I do it it must be fine.
Application is all but universal throughout human history.
--ml
Actually, on those international surveys of official, illegal corruption, the U.S. ranks high (i.e. clean), but when unofficial legal forms of corruption are added in, the U.S. ranking drops dramatically.
I just filed my taxes and don't expect to receive a call from an IRS agent letting me know that if I sent him a few hundred dollars, I could have most of my money back. And when I renew my registration with the DMV in June, I would be shocked if I was told that for a little extra payment, my application wouldn't be lost. I appreciate that the larger looting goes on outside my very few contacts with officials. That said, if someone were to appoint me to a "Commission" or "Oversight Committee" of some sort at any level of government, I would probably end up either tearing my hair out each night at the corruption of it all, or with my kitchen renovations mysteriously paid for.
The USA is an 'advanced' nation. That means that corruption actually has benefits for citizens who are not burdened with the guilt because they are involved in the corruption without being aware of that fact (stockholders).
The Washington Post notes:
About two-thirds of corporations operating in the United States did not pay taxes annually from 1998 to 2005, according to a new report scheduled to be made public today from the U.S. Government Accountability Office…
In 2005, about 28 percent of large corporations paid no taxes…
Dorgan and Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) requested the report out of concern that some corporations were using “transfer pricing” to reduce their tax bills. The practice allows multi-national companies to transfer goods and assets between internal divisions so they can record income in a jurisdiction with low tax rates…
[Senator] Levin said: “This report makes clear that too many corporations are using tax trickery to send their profits overseas and avoid paying their fair share in the United States.”
Those primitive Greeks, when will they learn to spare their wealthier citizens all of that guilt!!!
The following is from what I can only assume is the article being referenced to here. If this is the correct WSJ article, it is limited as to what I could get without subscribing. There is some interesting stuff nonetheless:
ATHENS—Behind the budget crisis roiling Greece lies a riddle: Why does the state spend so lavishly but collect taxes so poorly? Many Greeks say the answer needs only two words: fakelaki and rousfeti.
Fakelaki is the Greek for “little envelopes,” the bribes that affect everyone from hospital patients to fishmongers. Rousfeti means expensive political favors, which pervade everything from hiring teachers to property deals with Greek Orthodox monks. Together, these traditions of corruption and cronyism have produced a state that is both bloated and malnourished, and a crisis of confidence that is shaking all of Europe.
See this article about israel buying greek islands to relocate palestinians. This may help both Greece and Israel..
http://www.gpexaminer.com/?p=32
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