They ain't falling in America.
3
I see two big problems.
The first is money. Some people just have too much of it. And some politicians want too much of it. The Koch Brothers are a good example of people who have too much and think that they can buy the government they want. And Mick Mulvaney (with his pay-for-play) wants too much. I am not alarmed by sex workers who sell their bodies, but I am worried about politicians who sell their souls (and the country at the same time.)
The second is religion. Religion is supposed to address three things: meaning, values, and the spiritual welfare of the society and the individual. Instead, the religious paradigm in the US, and I would assume much of the world is one of money-grubbing, power-mongering, and supplanting science. Maybe if religion got back to teaching that “The love of money is the root of all evil,” we might at least keep some people as regarding greenbacks as God.
1
There is a significant cultural component to corruption, to the extent that the complexity deserves a whole academic discipline. Is nepotism a form of corruption? In societies with strong tribal structures, one person with a good job is obligated to dole out positions to family members whether qualified or not. Is this corruption? Of course, but how easy is it to fight it?
Or the gift giving, revered in many countries. Is it a form of corruption to buy gifts for your boss? These may seem like trivial points, but they are the very seeds that bear the fruit of corruption, and acceptance of it at higher levels.
Not to say there is not an economic component:
In many countries, the salary for government officials is a joke. It has nothing to do with the cost of living. The official has two choices, to steal money in form of bribes, or steal time in form of getting a side job and treating government as a pension plan.
To fight corruption, you have to change some rigid mindsets that form the very basis of some cultures.
1
I fear the columnist is being too naive. These people fell not because their corruptions were exposed but because of power struggle.
I too was naive and thought anti-corruption was a good thing - well, it still is - except that anti-corruption is a means and not an end. The rise of opposition and a consolidation of power led to many of these downfall. And look, the heir of Samsung has just been rehabilitated.
Remember the story of The Animal Farm?
And look at America, President Obama and his administration have been fairly clean - so the corruption force decided to sic it to Mrs Clinton with an email server. So, sorry, corruption is alive and well. And this is not just monetary corruption, but a mental one. A spiritual one, even!
2
Bos, I think, or at least you're right. I read somewhere Ms. Park was not really or that guilty. Maybe she's not.
As for Mr. Lula of Brazil, I'm fairly certain he's not guilty any serious crimes. He may have had some sweetheart deal. But the well-to-do there didn't want Lula to adopt less unequal society. The whole this was a fight between the hard-right and left wing elements. The hard-right won, for now.
Mr. Zuma was a terrible leader, about the opposite of Nelson Mandela. Mr. Mandala once feared Zuma might be wiretapping him and he moved to his yard before speaking with someone from the U.S.
1
Wait a minute. What's wrong with us?
1
In Brazil, a big problem is that we have excessive positions of politicians with access to a lot of money. We have to take this economic power out of the state, and transform a government only as an administration. The interest, here in Brazil, to be a politician is exclusively to steal, because it is very easy. The politician has the power, and sells his power through tips.
1
While the title of this article gave me hope, it is my opinion that the omission of the soon to be; no longer the world’s leading country, among those victimized by a corrupt leader, leaves me wondering if anyone will be able to stop the psychopath who is not only destroying our country but also jeopardizing the future of humanity on this Earth.
1
Fighting corruption requires complete honesty: no shady government contracts, no elite protecting its interests, no politicians persecuting just their rivals for corruption, no politicians adopting laws like the "prohibition" and the "war on drugs" that they know can't be held, etc. Campaigns against corruption should be looked at in this light: if they not further general honesty they will not lead to general improvement.
In that light I would expect what is happening now in Latin America to lead to a deterioration, both of the economy and the general condition of those countries.
Awaiting Trump's turn behind bars. (And NOT in one of those "country club" prisons.)
1
Donald Trump: You're next.
Why not have all government income and expenditures public and online? Because technology has made it feasible and cheap. Charities and other institutions could itemize each transaction too - just make their accounting public. Sunshine is a great sanitizer.
1
The article failed to mention the recent removal of the former president of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro from office when their Supreme Court found enough evidence to judge Maduro for a major corruption case involving the infamous Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht. Then, Venezuela National Assembly ratified this constitutional procedure issued by their Supreme Court to put Maduro behind bars and to fully proceed with the corruption process against him...and this is really positive news!
2
In America as the middle class SHRINKS, corruption grows. Coincidence? I think not.
7
to put corruption into context - my favourite explainer - 'Why Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-4V3HR696k
How many slippery skeletons is our own Don hiding in all that concrete & rebar, & how much have his scams cost, & where is that 363 tons of cash that fell off the back of US military transport in Iraq, Cheney's Halliburton, KBR, Lockheed, $Trillions from Treasury, crony capitalist U.S. petro-corruption, the USA is run by such decent examples of honest, scrupulous people, veritable beacon of virtue.
12
Since your drawing by Andrew Rae shows the monster of corruption engulfing the South America continent, what about the drug dealing activities supported by some thug governments throughout the region? Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia...just to mention the main perpetrators ... Please cover this issue and write and inform about it, it is much bigger than Odebrecht and directly affects not only North America but Europe as well...
2
You mean the drug dealing activities that would not be possible without American money and guns?
In Venezuela former Finance Minister Jorge Giordani denounced that in just a decade of its 19 years in power, the regime embezzled 300 billion dollars. That is equivalent to $10,000 for every man, woman and child living in Venezuela where the minimum wage is just $4 a month at the black market rate, or $37 a month at the official DICOM rate. That monthly minimum wage buys you a chicken in Venezuela.
The international community has frozen the assets of the corrupt leaders responsible for Venezuela’s crisis. Hopefully with a regime change those assets will return to the country to jump start the economy, including the payment of its massive foreign debt that helped to finance corruption.
1
We need to follow the example of these poorer countries and institute stricter accountability laws and tough transparency laws, First, we need to repeal Citizens United which probably made the outcome of the election of 2018 possible. Without that I don't think anything will change. We also need to make sure that we elect people who will favor the independence of the judiciary. The Supreme Court is key to strengthening our democracy and the fairness of our elections.
6
As of right now, the Suptreme Court is hopelessly, pathetically corrupted. I have ZERO faith in them "doing the right thing" for America.
Agree, but we are losing our middle income population. After reading, I wonder if this is behind the actions of politicians like Scott walker and his conservative sponsors?
When the rich get what they want,why should they care about your children or mine. Tax cuts and killing regulations are the way to get this going.
This is a excellent article, tells us clearly what happens when you let corruption go unpunished.
In my experience, the "I've got mine, now you're on your own to get yours" attitude is not unique to the upper classes in the United States. There are exceptions, but it seems to permeate American society, across the board, and maybe always has, and is the root of our problems. The middle class hardly has a corner on virtue, when there is so little public virtue apparently to be had.
I loved this article. I am encouraged by the transparency even when it brings down those I naively admired. Let the Truth come forth.
5
This is GREAT news. However, average people around the world must wipe out today's corrupters, who are even worse than those who have been and are being prosecuted and ousted.
Steve Bannon, with Peter Thiel's money, is running around the world fomenting trouble but they are no friends of democracy. WE THE PEOPLE must pay attention and shout out continuously against corrupters like the Koch brothers, Peter Thiel, The Con Don and their Robber Baron brethren.
Let this be the time that corruption, and those who foster/practice it, are ferreted out and destroyed at all levels in politics and business. It's time to put the world back on an even keel and prevent WW3.
15
Celebrating Sergio Moro as a "central driver of the anticorruption movement" is a total misconception. The author seems not to be aware of the politics behind the trial that put Lula in jail. Lula is a little fish (if the accusation of bribery is true after all) in comparison to "the top bosses and leaders" behind the corruption scandal that are still waiting on a trial. Sergio Moro seems not to be interested in catching the big fish.
1
Oh no, Lula is the big one.