| JuryFury.com
A New Issue Every Monday ! SUBSCRIBE NOW !! Online School of Politics |
||
| Areas of Interest THE USA American Foreign Policy US House and Senate US Presidents State & Local Politics Regional Politics Politics of China The British Commonwealth Indian Subcontinent Middle East The European Union Africa Latin America ASEAN NATO United Nations The Non-aligned Movement Eastern Europe New Nations of the 20th Century General Topics Constitutional Law Human Rights Nuclear Disarmament & Treaties International Warfare Environmental Law Peace Treaties Economic & Social Alliances International Organizations Journalism & Media Racism and Democracy Women in the Workplace Family Law Courts and Practices The Judicial System Higher Education Education and Government Health Care & Insurance Rights of the Disabled Copyright & Working Online Legal Representation Legal Insurance Pornography Domestic Violence Religion & Law Workers Rights Employers Rights Prison & Life after Social Organizations Welfare & Poverty Taxation and Democracy Third World Aid Programs Space Exploration Alternative Energy Petroleum Industry & Cars Nuclear Power Programs for the Arts Sports Education Policing the Internet Privacy and freedom Immigration Food and Regulation War on Drugs War on Pharmaceuticals Public Housing Pollution and Control Sexual Harrassment Discrimination Electoral Process Consumers Rights Investors Rights Abortion Death Penalty Social Security Gender & Sexuality Grassroots Organization ACLU World Watch Oxfam UNICEF United Negro Fund Ford Foundation (suggestions welcome at our chatsite) Law of the Economy Join I-Traderschool, our sister magazine, for debates and news. |
Corrupt Regulators? FCC bills paid by Industries? by Sophia Barkat Here's the link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030522/media_nm/media_fcc_ integrity_dc_1 Coming from a country where people are corrupt out of poverty I find it baffling to know that America too is neck-deep in corruption. I guess it's not poverty itself that drives corruption. It's income disparity. Back home you have to give the teller a fifty Taka note to just pay your Gas Bill -- In Bangladesh the government-run banks handle bill paying for the Govt.-run Utilities. And you have to have an Uncle in the business to get a job there. In fact, thanks to dad's and mom's friends and families, we have an Uncle's everywhere. The World Bank proposed a scenario regarding corruption in Bangladesh. It will pay Government Employees more than what they get - to give them a salary that will prevent corruption. The idea was rejected. The way campaign finance and now the FCC is being kept by corporations and lobby groups, I'm surprised the World Bank isn't concerned about corruption in America. by Trevor Batten re: Sophia's post Sophia wrote: "Coming from a country where people are corrupt out of poverty I find it baffling to know that America too is neck-deep in corruption. I guess it's not poverty itself that drives corruption. It's income disparity." I don't know why anybody should assume that corruption only occurs because of poverty -or that the cause (or form) of corruption should be the same in Bangladesh as in America. If there was a simple connection between poverty and greed then presumably people would stop being corrupt as soon as they became rich. Why do people assume that things only have single causes and that the causes are the same for all phenomena that appear similar? Sophia wrote: "Back home you have to give the teller a fifty Taka note to just pay your Gas Bill -- In Bangladesh the government-run banks handle bill paying for the Govt.-run Utilities." Another example of "ecological" principles found in "economic" systems? Perhaps such "corrupt" systems are required to fund government services where central funds are not sufficient..... Perhaps this reflects the similarity between Bangladesh and America in both cases central government has insufficient funds -- in one case because private incomes do not support high taxation levels and in the other case because political dogma does not support government taxation and well funded and effective public services. Sophia wrote: "And you have to have an Uncle in the business to get a job there. In fact, thanks to dad's and mom's friends and families, we have an Uncle's everywhere." Well, that is clearly inefficient -especially in a largely immigrant population (such as America) which does not have well developed tribal or family roots. Sophia wrote: "The World Bank proposed a scenario. It will pay Government Employees more than what they get - to give them a salary that will prevent corruption. The idea was rejected." Possibly very sensibly -such schemes can be started and stopped with the single stroke of a pen -but "corruption" is a reliable source of income..... Sophia wrote: "The way campaign finance and now the FCC is being kept by corporations and lobby groups, I'm surprised the World Bank isn't concerned about corruption in America." Well, as we have already seen with the "discussions" here once people believe something (such as America is good) then it is very difficult for them to change their minds -until circumstances force them to do so (quite often resulting in shock and other psychological problems). Perhaps if you analyzed the situations you refer to above in terms of "human energy costs" -you would find that, like water, "energy" nearly always takes the easy route! However, it probably costs less energy to ignore these remarks than to take them (or any subject) seriously. by Sophia Barkat Re: Trevor's post You're right. However, since the World Bank has proposed programs to alleviate corruption in countries with low per capita income -- GNP is 45 billion dollars -- I was pointing out that their "used" rational is wrong. by Trevor Batten re: Sophia's post The fact that the proposed programme has been rejected might prove that it is indeed right. If the government is corrupt, then perhaps they consider it more in their interests to allow corruption to continue than to end it. Until recently, the US Government seems to have supported corruption around the world -until it apparently decided that it could earn more money by attacking its old freinds in order to rebuild them in the American image.... by Sophia Barkat Re: Trevor's post Regarding the US Government using bribery, when the US was lobbying for support in the UN Security Council for the attack Iraq on Iraq, there were rumors it had tried to bribe the three African nations that were in the Council. As for why the plan to pay Government Servants salaries from World Bank was rejected in Bangladesh, I don't know. I hear it is so that the US Govt. cannot control Bangladeshi Govt. Servants directly. Right now, they exert a lot of pressure on Aid recepients via "conditions" and via policy analysts they hire to interact with Government Servants in Bangladesh. These analysts have extensive years of experience and probably have gone to school with the counter-party in the Bangladesh Government or know them through family connections. It's a small place and the people at the top tend to know each other well. In any case, if you go back to your argument about how salaries and income levels do not determine who accepts bribery and who doesn't, then one can't really say that giving higher salaries to Bangladeshi Government Servants would have stopped people from taking bribes. I think that the idea was solely to impose direct control on key officials -- namely to expediate processes, and to ccontrol decision-making. Back home, you need to bribe people to get a drivers license. It's that bad. So, I guess even donor organizations want to have an Uncle in the Ministries. What's not being done about Corporate Thieves Forwarded by Cherrie Lynn Lipsett The following article basically covers how Corporate Reform has been dropped from the Bush Agenda. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/QuietPolyJuryFury/message/1866 |
Encourage Discussion Join Juryfury Chat Promote Juryfury.com Join online discussion Groups Archives Writers Needed Be a Columnist Be an Editor Become an Owner Writing Training Program Internship Program for Students Advertise with Us Our Staff & Contributors Our Magazines Quietpoly.com I-Traderschool Juryfury.com The Company Our Address: QuietPoly Inc. 240 W. Saunders. Dr. (#146) Flagstaff, AZ 86001 Tel (928) 214-7365 quietpoly@yahoo.com Our Affiliations (pending member) MediaChannel.org IndyMedia.org |