Well done BBC focus on Corruption

Rob Keeble

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BBC has started a week long focus on corruption around the world.

Have you ever faced it and what's your thoughts?

One only need take a look at the global map to see how bad some have it.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23231318


Its a subject near and dear to my heart and needs as much exposure as possible. In my view its the biggest single threat to freedom anywhere in the world.

Would appear according to the BBC that I have this belief in common with a guy by the name of Edmund Burke, who I have never heard of before but I find shares another view and that is quote Wikipedia "The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

Help spread the word and keep it as bay as much as is humanly possible.
 
For me its immaterial what the "average" value is because my experience is that it starts out small and when the corrupt get away with that small amount then it gets bigger.
There are many things that are part of corruption but society has become blind to them today.
Take the subject of Xmas presents in business. Or even meals out paid for by a company. Few see that as anything approaching corruption.
 
I wonder what the average "bribe" value was.


4 or 5 years ago one of my local customers, a manufacturer of light gauge steel frame buildings, was going to package my pneumatic tools and fasteners with their product on 2 huge projects. One in Nigeria and the other in Madagascar. In face to face meetings with top officials of both countries it became obvious that a substantial payoff was necessary to get signed contracts.
I chose not to get involved so I left both meetings. Not sure how it turned out for my customer but I slept at night.
On the other hand I had dealings with the same customer a few years before that on a huge job in Gibraltar that was totally above board.
 
Have you ever faced it and what's your thoughts?

Of course I have. I am from Pakistan. I think I paid a bribe about 3 times. First, when I needed a Domicile to get into the University. This should have been a painless process but I had to bribe the government official to get it. Alternative was to miss the admission deadline. Second time was when I needed a police clearance certificate from my local police station. This was a requirement for applying for US Visa. My record was clean but I still had to bribe to get the certificate. Third time was to get out of a traffic ticket and this is something I am not too proud of as that makes me part of the problem.
 
Edmund Burke, who I have never heard of before

Rob,

Before you go jumping into the pool with Burke, you may wish to read up a little on him. Yes, he holds near god-like status for certain factions, but those same factions would strongly object to the basic tenet of his ideas, which is that people "desire to be ruled and controlled."

Also, sadly, he didn't actually ever write that "good men" line. Here's what he actually wrote: ""when bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle."

Alas, things are never as simple as they seem... ;)

Best,

Bill
 
Thanks Bill cannot tell you how much I appreciate you setting the record straight. Definitely will distance myself from someone that thinks I have a desire to be ruled and controlled. The very reason I am self employed is so I don't have to put up with the "rule and control" aspect. :)

So much for Wikipedia. Would have thought that something like a historical bit like that would have been technically correct. Darn internet. Guess I need to read more real books. Also BBC deserves a rap over the knuckles they the one that mention him in this regard. Typical content hunters just repeating the crap they get to find without effort. Guess I am guilty of that too but I thought I could rely on standards at the BBC.

Bill can you give me a reference as to where you got the info I would like to write the BBC and set them straight. Thanks again.
 
Bill can you give me a reference as to where you got the info I would like to write the BBC and set them straight. Thanks again.

Rob,

I'm not among those who look askance at wikipedia, mainly because I've heard a fair bit about how encyclopedias were compiled in the old days. At least with wiki, things can be checked, confirmed, or changed, unlike the old Britannica, where errors, once printed, were carved in stone and repeated for years. In fact, the debunking of the Burke source is on wiki itself (which gives one pause about the fact-checkers at the BBC. Seriously, they couldn't do a quick google? ;)

Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Burke#When_.22good_men_do_nothing.22


tumblr_maepcyvbmz1r8lmylo1_500.jpg

Thanks,

Bill
 
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