U.S. slips to historic low in global corruption index

[futurebeachbum]

From Reuters article "U.S. slips to historic low in global corruption index".

The United States has dropped out of the "top 20" in a global league table of least corrupt nations, tarnished by financial scandals and the influence of money in politics, Transparency International said on Tuesday.

That's pretty shocking..."influence of money in politics". Here? In the U.S?

In the Americas, this put the United States behind Canada in sixth place, Barbados at 17th and Chile in 21st place.

That's probably accurate. Chile's leadership in the coal mine crisis was pretty impressive and not serving special interests. That's more than we can say for our politicians and the Deepwater Horizon debacle.

Nancy Boswell, president of TI in the United States, said lending practices in the subprime crisis, the disclosure of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and rows over political funding had all rattled public faith about prevailing ethics in America.

"We're not talking about corruption in the sense of breaking the law," she said. "We're talking about a sense that the system is corrupted by these practices. There's an integrity deficit."

Various financial scandals at state and city level had encouraged the impression that the regulatory oversight was weak and that influence could be bought, she added.

Welcome to America where money talks and that's all that matters.

 

[Matt J]

That's probably accurate. Chile's leadership in the coal mine crisis was pretty impressive and not serving special interests. That's more than we can say for our politicians and the Deepwater Horizon debacle.

Oh I totally see the comparison of 33 miners trapped in one place with an uncontrollable liquid coming out of the earth. I think the Chilean miners were probably most lucky that their government didn't have a law preventing intervention for fear of voiding lawsuits or becoming liable.

 

[poppy]

Oh I totally see the comparison of 33 miners trapped in one place with an uncontrollable liquid coming out of the earth. I think the Chilean miners were probably most lucky that their government didn't have a law preventing intervention for fear of voiding lawsuits or becoming liable.

Good point, Chile has a stable well regulated mining industry.