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Sunday, February 25th, 2018

Top 10 Signs the U.S. Is the Most Corrupt Nation in the World (2018 Ed.)

Author:     Juan Cole
Source:     Alternet
Publication Date:     February 24, 2018, 11:03 AM GMT
 Link: Top 10 Signs the U.S. Is the Most Corrupt Nation in the World (2018 Ed.)
Stephan:   The level of corruption in the United States is breathtaking, and largely unacknowledged, or maybe unrecognized, by the media and the public. We have even legalized bribery of public officials with Citizens United, and the results are obvious. America has become the banana republic people talked about in my youth. Nothing is going to change this but massive voting by citizens demanding that social policies be based on wellbeing, not profit.

Credit: Dash Radosti

Those ratings that castigate Afghanistan and some other poor countries as hopelessly “corrupt” always imply that the United States is not corrupt. This year’s report from Transparency International puts the US on a par with Austria, which is ridiculous. All kinds of people from politicians to businessmen would go to jail in Austria today if they engaged in practices that are quite common in the US.

While it is true that you don’t typically have to bribe your postman to deliver the mail in the US, in many key ways America’s political and financial practices make it in absolute terms far more corrupt than the usual global South suspects. After all, the US economy is worth over $18 trillion a year, so in our corruption a lot more money changes hands.

1. A sure sign of corruption is an electoral outcome like 2016. An addled nonentity like Donald Trump got filthy rich via tax loopholes a predatory behavior in his casinos and other businesses, and then was permitted to buy the presidency with his own money. He […]

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2 Comments

  1. sam on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 7:50 am

    The IT world in the US is full of Indian workers who paid bribes to get grades. But recent changes in the rules will significantly reduce the number of H1’s.

  2. Rev. Dean on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 12:09 pm

    It is very obvious that we do not live in a democracy anymore. I stopped paying taxes last year, and will not support this administration. If I had money , I would move to another country immediately.