[lbo-talk] Kenya offended at N. Zealander's dog food aid offer

[Joseph Wanzala]

I of course agree that comparing modes corruption (and many other things) in 
any two countries can be problematic, but I don't agree that corruption in 
the US is limited to middle to upper strata of society. Most public workers 
in the US especially those vulnerable to corruption are relatively well 
compensated and there are relatively high standards of integrity, and there 
is not much of the type of petty corruption we see in Nigeria or Russia. 
However, every once in a while, instances of hidden corruption, e.g. in law 
enforcement, especially with respect to the drug war are revealed - as with 
the LAPD's Ramparts' scandal. Let's not kid ourselves, organized crime is 
corruption by another name and is rife at every level of American society 
(and a whole battery of laws are in effect to ostensibly address the problem 
- indeed much of there is a symbiotic, sometimes even collusive relationship 
between law enforcement and corrupt actors) from small time stuff like San 
Francisco Municipal Railway operators stealing cash or fudging timesheets 
etc. to political corruption where millions of illicit grease wheeling 
dollars flow every year, to the WorldCom, Enron type scandals. In other 
words, since the (mythical) Fall of Eden, corruption has been a fairly 
constant and universal variable in human nature - and by extension 
institutional behavior.

....I'm not sure what the significance of my being African is - are you 
suggesting that by being an African I somehow cannot refer to Africans 
without noting that I am one...?

Joe W.


>From: Chris Doss <lookoverhere1 at yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Kenya offended at N. Zealander's dog food aid offer
>Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2006 08:39:08 -0800 (PST)
>
>
>
>--- Joseph Wanzala <jwanzala at hotmail.com> wrote:
>clearly there is endemic corporate and
>government corruption in the US, Western Europe and
>the former East
>Bloc
>countries, especially Russia.
>---
>
>Russia is probably the least corrupt country in the
>CIS after Belarus -- but OK I think you're using
>"Russia" as shorthand for "former Soviet Union," as is
>common.
>
>I think there is a problem with comparing "corruption"
>in countries like the US and Russia (using the two
>examples I'm familiar with). American corruption is
>mostly in the middle to upper strata of the society
>and is not commonly directly encountered by the man in
>the street. In Russia, however, it exists at every
>level and is pervasive. For instance, someone becomes
>a policeman in order so he can get an apartment in
>Moscow. To get the job, he has to pay a bribe, and he
>has to pay bribes to keep the job. That means he has
>to take bribes (or have an additional source of
>income) in order to pay the bribes to keep his job.
>
>A friend of mine from Nigeria says that in Abuja, if a
>traffic cap waves you down, you don't even stop the
>car -- just slow it down enough to hand him some money
>through the window.
>
>--
>(African wags had a field day with Enron
>as
>you can imagine, reversing roles for a change ;-)
>
>--
>
>As did Russian ones. You're African yourself, aren't you?
>
>Nu, zayats, pogodi!
>
>__________________________________________________
>Do You Yahoo!?
>Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
>http://mail.yahoo.com
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk