Thanks, You make me feel better for my country. Even when there is a lot of corruption in Argentina, luckily we are not at that level yet.
I mean, yes... some things are common: police taking money from prostitution and even from drug dealers in some places, Union leaders getting rich and powerful by using union's money as if it was of their own, politicians contracting companies owned by friends or family members while public prosecutors and judges turning a blind eye... and so on...
But taking money to put innocent people in jail? Maybe there's hope yet...
But then, somebody else coming from a different country would read my message and would also say: Wow!
Surely, that's an advantage of having a highly banked system as in some places of Europe and the US. I think that most of this "low level corruption" problems would be solved if people used less cash. I don't know in Russia, but here, most of the transactions are made in cash. Even when buying a house, most people go to make the transaction carrying USD 150,000/250,000 in cash. People do not trust in banks (mainly after the 2001 crisis), and lots of people have safe deposit boxes instead of savings accounts, just to avoid the government from knowing how much money they have (tax evasion).
But, if people used less and less cash, it would be harder to have these kind of corruption in lower levels, simply because of money laundry's complexity for most people would be just too much, or too risky.
Incidentally, a new law was just passed here in Italy to reduce the maximum amount a transaction can legally be made in cash. That is mostly to contrast tax evasion, but the same logic applies to corruption, I guess.
I have a somewhat unreasonable hatred of banks, which stems from some unfortunate incidents - they basically lost my meager money back when I was starting out and they literally left me with nothing to eat for a few days; some unreasonable fees, awful hours, anti-customer service, etc.
So so far I've made all my large transactions in cash - I bought my car in cash, for example, U$ 9000. It's actually a tiny pile of money.. I'm pragmatic and I do use all banking services, but I'd love for them to be disrupted (and even had a tiny try at them myself befare I despaired at the humungous amount of red tape)
>But then, somebody else coming from a different country would read my message and would also say: Wow!
I'm not so sure. All of those things you list in your first paragraph happen in the UK all the time and nobody cares, and I imagine it is the same in most other countries.
As usual, there's probably some Scandinavian place where everyone behaves exemplarily.
That's funny, I had a fellow co-worker here who came from Sweden. He said that even when there was practically no corruption at all where he lived, life was incredibly boring.
He seemed to enjoy "having problems" here (yeah, that sounded strange to me too). Maybe those problems add adrenaline and emotion to our lives? Or maybe he was just crazy.
They happen everywhere. It's a matter of degree. Some people in corrupt places love to use the fact that no place is perfect as an excuse for why things should not change and why people shouldn't get angry.
In Ireland, there isn't so much corruption. I won't say there's never any whatsoever, obviously, but there isn't anywhere near as much as people are describing here. I suppose it puts in perspective how lucky I should feel.
I think you should put things in perspective. Ireland is not the least corrupt country in the world, but definitely on the right end of the list. Only Scandinavia, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is less corrupt. The rest of western Europe as well as the US, Chile, Uruguay and surprisingly Botswana is at about the same level, while every other country is more corrupt.
No country is totally free of corruption. It would be no problem to find cases in Swedish media as well. That you find corruption cases in the media is a good sign, because it indicates society does not accept it.
Corruption is not in any way crippling Irish economy like it does many other places.
The table of countries makes interesting reading...
Am I wrong to find it fishy that Julian Assange wants to hide in Ecuador (rank #120, score 2.7) rather than face a trial in Sweden (rank #4, score 9.3)
If there was anywhere near as much as is being discussed regarding some other countries, a cursory glance would suffice. Did you miss the bit where I said 'I won't say there's never any whatsoever, obviously'?
I mean, yes... some things are common: police taking money from prostitution and even from drug dealers in some places, Union leaders getting rich and powerful by using union's money as if it was of their own, politicians contracting companies owned by friends or family members while public prosecutors and judges turning a blind eye... and so on...
But taking money to put innocent people in jail? Maybe there's hope yet...
But then, somebody else coming from a different country would read my message and would also say: Wow!
Surely, that's an advantage of having a highly banked system as in some places of Europe and the US. I think that most of this "low level corruption" problems would be solved if people used less cash. I don't know in Russia, but here, most of the transactions are made in cash. Even when buying a house, most people go to make the transaction carrying USD 150,000/250,000 in cash. People do not trust in banks (mainly after the 2001 crisis), and lots of people have safe deposit boxes instead of savings accounts, just to avoid the government from knowing how much money they have (tax evasion). But, if people used less and less cash, it would be harder to have these kind of corruption in lower levels, simply because of money laundry's complexity for most people would be just too much, or too risky.