Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

May 7, 2005

Bribery

Filed under: Government — Bunker @ 11:41 am

Anyone who feels we should be following business practices of other countries needs to read these thoughts on bribery.

We are on this road. How far do we wish to travel?

5 Comments

  1. OMG~! Mike, you really know how to hit below the belt.

    In Mexico they say, “La Mordida”, (the deadly bite). That phrase describes bribery in the full. Unfortunately, paying the bribe is simply the cost of doing business in most places these days. Look at our current situation with the UN, Koffi thinks it’s just the normal and usual. It’s the way of the criminal third world.

    Comment by John — May 7, 2005 @ 11:59 am

  2. We Americans take equality for granted.

    I once had a roommate from India and another from Jordan. Both of them told the same story, about how America is just weird (in a good way). In their countries, bribes were just a fact of life when dealing with the government. If you showed up at a government office for the simplest thing — say, a driver’s license — your wait was measured in hours, and sometimes days. But a little cash exchange could get you to the front of the line, and everybody knew it. It was open and aboveboard: someone would walk in, walk up to the counter, pass across a payment, and get served right away (if the payment was sufficiently large).

    Yes, we have corrupt officials; but for the most part, they hide it. Most of us take for granted that we’ll stand in line and get served in our turn, just like everybody else.

    I never thought of the DMV as a hallmark of democratic liberty, but it is.

    Comment by UML Guy — May 7, 2005 @ 12:35 pm

  3. When I was in Russia I used to watch the cops stop every other BMW and Mercedes, for some reason they never stopped a Lada.

    I wonder why…..

    Comment by John — May 7, 2005 @ 1:11 pm

  4. I got pulled over by a policeman in Panama. I pretended not to speak Spanish, and asked in halting language whether I could pay my fine on the spot or if I had to go to court.

    $10 settled everything right there.

    Comment by Bunker — May 7, 2005 @ 2:40 pm

  5. Thanks for the link.

    After reading your comments, maybe the subset of the crime is the honest bribe, and the paradigm is bakeesh.

    Comment by Doug_S — May 7, 2005 @ 8:59 pm

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