Ernie: The issue of bribery is really worth thinking about. How is it that the United States is, at least mostly, a bribe free society ? Yet many other countries around the world seem to function through bribe systems at all levels. Granted, American politics might easily be thought of as a system of disguised ( or even overt ) bribery, but by and large bribery is not part of how we do things. Indeed, there is abhorrence of bribery generally. Why hasn't this happened elsewhere --and universally ? I will guess that institutionalized bribery is not much of a factor in western Europe ( vs the eastern nations, where it may still be a significant factor ) and you can probably say the same for Australia, Canada, NZ and places like Israel, Japan, Costa Rica, and Singapore, but outside this circle you find it all over the map. What supporting values are necessary for a non-bribe system to exist ? What kinds of traditions are helpful ? What kinds of leadership ? I certainly don't have an answer, but maybe the question has value. I'd also like to know if my perception of US culture / society is on the money. Are there hidden ( unacknowledged but real ) forms of bribery that we all take for granted and never even think twice about ? Probably there are some, but are there more than a few ? If so, how important are they ? Anyway, a valuable topic to pursue. Billy =================================================== In a message dated 3/18/2010 11:50:14 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Wonderful stuff! Lots of fascinating the data, though this is the real shocker: On Mar 18, 2010, at 12:40 PM, [email protected] wrote: > Forty percent say they have been pressured to pay a bribe. Only 40%!?!? -- Ernie P. _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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