3 ms·

Cheating and corruption is infectious and once it starts spreading it can turn into an epidemic. The reasons is if everyone cheats those who evaluate the result

by rdtsc 9y ago

Cheating and corruption is infectious and once it starts spreading it can turn into an epidemic. The reasons is if everyone cheats those who evaluate the results adjust their expectations. "Oh look, everyone can solve this problem we thought was hard, Ok, let's make the problem even harder", kind of idea. That puts pressure on those who don't cheat, because now they have to work even harder to keep up with cheaters, or start cheating. When bribing is involved, those who receive bribes start factoring regular bribes as a line item in their monthly or yearly revenue. In other words, next time they interact with someone and they don't get a bribe, they will go out of their way to ensure they fail to get what they want until the customer "gets the message". Someone refusing to pay the bribe is seen as taking the bread away from their kids' table. Eventually becomes part of the culture, the common sense, so to speak. You're simply expected to cheat or to bribe in any kind of governmental, business, educational or other institutional transaction. It starts from birth in the hospital to the burial in the cemetery. It is not called a bribe anymore just a "gift" or "help" or something like that. Someone who doesn't understand or participate in this corruption is seen as goofy or stupid ("How can you expect to get anything done, what planet did you come from, of course you have to pay").

daveguy 9y ago
Regarding bribes. In the US I would be afraid to offer money to an officer, because that is clearly illegal. I would expect offering a bribe to make things worse for me. Also in the US, I feel like if I don't offer "help" to subsidize the work that a waiter does then I am essentially taking money away (they get paid sub minimum wage). I feel that "help" should only be offered after the work is done, and well done. Are bribes in other cultures almost considered more like tips are considered in the US? Western Europe seems to be a low tip, low bribe culture. What are the opinions / standards coming from there?
- rdtsc 9y ago
  > In the US I would be afraid to offer money to an officer, because that is clearly illegal. Yeah that's the nice thing for all the criticism people have for US it still has a relatively well functioning justice system compared to those other country. People simply have no idea what it is like to live with pervasive corruption on all levels of society. Handing money to a police officer was expected and sometimes even asked for blatantly. It is still illegal just that nobody cares. It never called a bribe but something like "Maybe we can come to an understanding..." > I don't offer "help" to subsidize the work that a waiter does then I am essentially taking money away That's a good way to understanding it. Except you'd pay "tips" ahead of time, they'd be large, and would be for random things like kids getting good grades, or doctor not messing the surgery up, and the judge to get off murder. A particularly evil case, was a neighbor I had who knew the guy who worked in a DNA testing lab. That guy had a huge house, cars and lived the good life. Why? He offered falsifying DNA results for criminal and paternity tests as a service. Just thinking about the damage that one person did, and I am sure he wasn't the only one. > What are the opinions / standards coming from there? I have mostly been in Eastern Europe. It's much, much worse. US might have high level corruption - nepotism, lobbying, regulatory capture but it is still doing pretty well compared to many other places.

by rdtsc 9y ago

daveguy 9y ago

Regarding bribes. In the US I would be afraid to offer money to an officer, because that is clearly illegal. I would expect offering a bribe to make things worse for me. Also in the US, I feel like if I don't offer "help" to subsidize the work that a waiter does then I am essentially taking money away (they get paid sub minimum wage). I feel that "help" should only be offered after the work is done, and well done. Are bribes in other cultures almost considered more like tips are considered in the US? Western Europe seems to be a low tip, low bribe culture. What are the opinions / standards coming from there?

rdtsc 9y ago
> In the US I would be afraid to offer money to an officer, because that is clearly illegal. Yeah that's the nice thing for all the criticism people have for US it still has a relatively well functioning justice system compared to those other country. People simply have no idea what it is like to live with pervasive corruption on all levels of society. Handing money to a police officer was expected and sometimes even asked for blatantly. It is still illegal just that nobody cares. It never called a bribe but something like "Maybe we can come to an understanding..." > I don't offer "help" to subsidize the work that a waiter does then I am essentially taking money away That's a good way to understanding it. Except you'd pay "tips" ahead of time, they'd be large, and would be for random things like kids getting good grades, or doctor not messing the surgery up, and the judge to get off murder. A particularly evil case, was a neighbor I had who knew the guy who worked in a DNA testing lab. That guy had a huge house, cars and lived the good life. Why? He offered falsifying DNA results for criminal and paternity tests as a service. Just thinking about the damage that one person did, and I am sure he wasn't the only one. > What are the opinions / standards coming from there? I have mostly been in Eastern Europe. It's much, much worse. US might have high level corruption - nepotism, lobbying, regulatory capture but it is still doing pretty well compared to many other places.