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>This kind of bribery at every level of government does not exist in any first world country. I'm acutely aware of what corruption is like there, thanks. I got

by pydry 4y ago

>This kind of bribery at every level of government does not exist in any first world country. I'm acutely aware of what corruption is like there, thanks. I got shaken down by corrupt cops just outside of Ikeja three weeks ago. Unlike Nigeria, first world countries have functioning economies that don't pale into insignificance compared to whatever resource extraction they do. This is the key difference you missed. Where resource wealth doesn't overwhelm everything else, the effect of the curse is lower. Nonetheless, resources are still a curse for the first world even when they dont overwhelm their entire economy. For homework I suggest you contrast Oklahoma and Texas politics to those of New York and Washington State.

from 4y ago
> Nonetheless, resources are still a curse for the first world even when they dont overwhelm their entire economy. For homework I suggest you contrast Oklahoma and Texas politics to those of New York and Washington State. New York had the largest political machine and patronage system in the country for several decades (Tammany). Eric Adams' term has had scandal after scandal (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-scandals.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-scandals...., https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/nyregion/eric-adams-petrosyants-nyc-restaurant.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/nyregion/eric-adams-petro...). Illinois has plenty of corrupt politics despite having very few natural resources (4 of the past 7 governors there have gone to jail): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_politics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madigan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madigan. I don't know the history of Oklahoma or Texas very well but I would say that the bigger issue is that the ability to authorize tens of millions of dollars of spending is placed in the hands of a few unaccountable poorly paid individuals. Natural resources obviously go hand in hand with this because they provide a giant pile of money for people to divert.

by pydry 4y ago

from 4y ago

> Nonetheless, resources are still a curse for the first world even when they dont overwhelm their entire economy. For homework I suggest you contrast Oklahoma and Texas politics to those of New York and Washington State. New York had the largest political machine and patronage system in the country for several decades (Tammany). Eric Adams' term has had scandal after scandal (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-scandals.html https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/eric-adams-scandals...., https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/nyregion/eric-adams-petrosyants-nyc-restaurant.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/nyregion/eric-adams-petro...). Illinois has plenty of corrupt politics despite having very few natural resources (4 of the past 7 governors there have gone to jail): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago-style_politics, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madigan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Madigan. I don't know the history of Oklahoma or Texas very well but I would say that the bigger issue is that the ability to authorize tens of millions of dollars of spending is placed in the hands of a few unaccountable poorly paid individuals. Natural resources obviously go hand in hand with this because they provide a giant pile of money for people to divert.