4 ms·

I grew up in Mexico and I can see the logic behind this, I don't think it would work in practice: People usually give bribes when they've done something wrong,

I grew up in Mexico and I can see the logic behind this, I don't think it would work in practice: People usually give bribes when they've done something wrong, not when they are entitled to something. If a clerk asked me for a bribe in exchange for tax refund, I'd demand to talk to his supervisor, and I'm pretty sure he'd shit bricks and pretend to be joking. Let's say I fail a driving test, the clerk insinuates (because it's never obvious) an extra "fee" might help me get my licence: 1. What if the clerk never suggested a bribe, but instead I threatened to accuse him of bribery if he didn't give me a passing score? 2. If he did suggest a bribe, would my licence still be valid? 3. A bribed official would never give you a receipt of your bribery, how are they going to know if what you're saying is true? I can picture trolls affirming they were bribed by thousands of traffic officers in hopes of profitting from a faulty system.

ajays 16y ago
"People usually give bribes when they've done something wrong, not when they are entitled to something." Oh how wrong you are. In India, if you don't bribe, you won't get the service you need and are entitled to. I can give examples, but HN's disks may overflow. For example: to get a passport, you need a certificate of residency (or something like that, it's been a while) from the local police station. Unless you bribe the cops there, they'll never mail it in. Basically, in India, every touchpoint of the government machinery has a bribe slot. If you ever need a service from the government, you need to pay up. It simply does not matter how deserving your case is. There are examples aplenty of old pensioners having to bribe the pension officers to collect their own pensions! Corruption is a cruel system that abuses the most vulnerable and weak in society. The rich can use it to their advantage, and hence they don't care (one neighbor of ours became a multi-millionaire by bribing and selling sub-standard equipment to the Indian Railways ). The poor, on the other hand, get taken advantage of. I have seen, with my own eyes, mothers pawning their wedding jewelry to raise money for bribes so their sons could get a government job. It brought tears to my eyes, and this is why I hate that fucking system with a passion.

ajays 16y ago

"People usually give bribes when they've done something wrong, not when they are entitled to something." Oh how wrong you are. In India, if you don't bribe, you won't get the service you need and are entitled to. I can give examples, but HN's disks may overflow. For example: to get a passport, you need a certificate of residency (or something like that, it's been a while) from the local police station. Unless you bribe the cops there, they'll never mail it in. Basically, in India, every touchpoint of the government machinery has a bribe slot. If you ever need a service from the government, you need to pay up. It simply does not matter how deserving your case is. There are examples aplenty of old pensioners having to bribe the pension officers to collect their own pensions! Corruption is a cruel system that abuses the most vulnerable and weak in society. The rich can use it to their advantage, and hence they don't care (one neighbor of ours became a multi-millionaire by bribing and selling sub-standard equipment to the Indian Railways ). The poor, on the other hand, get taken advantage of. I have seen, with my own eyes, mothers pawning their wedding jewelry to raise money for bribes so their sons could get a government job. It brought tears to my eyes, and this is why I hate that fucking system with a passion.