The author doesn't connect with one of the most harmful characteristics of corruption: the way it spreads, like rust, or dry rot. If your boss is a crook, then

The author doesn't connect with one of the most harmful characteristics of corruption: the way it spreads, like rust, or dry rot. If your boss is a crook, then he's not going to mind if you're crooked too. In fact he'd prefer it - he won't want goody two-shoes as his subordinate, and having the dirt on you will enable him to control you. And so on, down the stack of turtles. A clean policeman in a corrupt department, refusing to take the payola, runs the risk of getting no backup when he's in trouble. Author notes that corruption in an army results in the hollowing-out of that army - equipment, men and supplies that are recorded on the books are fictional. But entire societies get hollowed-out; this is why corruption ought to be stomped on early and hard. Unfortunately, a fish starts rotting at the head. Who's to do the stomping, if the chief is a crook?