Greetings, everyone, This matter of corruption -- and especially corruption of intent -- is beautifully laid out in an extraordinary Turkish movie, Takva: a Man's Fear of God. I don't want to give the story away by commenting on it here, but will say that it explores this matter deeply and with great authenticity, intelligence, and integrity. Plus, it is a riveting movie. Our local library has a copy, and so yours may, too. Enjoy!
Lawry On Nov 28, 2012, at 4:38 PM, Ed Weick wrote: > Perhaps the only way to be a completely incorruptible person in today's world > is to sit on a mountaintop or to isolate oneself in a little stone cell in > the depths of a monastery, but even that may not work. There really isn't > much room for purists and idealists. > > Ed > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Keith Hudson > To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION ; Ed Weick > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2012 12:12 PM > Subject: Re: [Futurework] There's more there than I thought > > Ed, > > The big difference between corruption of senior politicians and officials in > China and that in the West is that the former speak about it openly as being > a (continuing) problem while the latter pretend that it only happens rarely. > It takes slightly different forms in the two countries. In China, bribes > (usually in the form of shares) are given to close relatives. In the West > it's more of a nod to the recipient that if he "helps" someone he'll be well > looked after once he's retired. There's nothing truer than the old saying: > "Every man has his price". Even if the price is reputational rather than > financial, it is never the case (IMO) that an attempt at bribery is met with > indifference. > > In the present Tory government in the UK it would be my opinion that most of > present senior cabinet, including Cameron, plus several Permanent Secretaries > (the top officials in civil service departments) have been bribed with the > promise of good jobs later (e.g. directorships, consultancies, top jobs with > the European Union, etc). In the previous government under Labour, it was > more of a case of the politicians 'consolidating' hundreds of key supporters > with high salaries and perks in new 'quasi non-governmental organizations' > (quangos) which carry out newly-invented civil service type functions. In the > case of the previous prime minister, Tony Blair, he's been living off several > different streams of income ever since he retired. > > Psychologists tell us that children tell fibs and devise strategies designed > to hoodwink others from only three years of age. This suggests that > deviousness is built into us genetically. This ability to deceive is > particularly necessary in any ambitiousness male not wishing to upset males > of higher social ranking (until the right moment to strike comes along!). > Sensible governmental constitutions in the future will not appeal to > idealistic abstractions but how to make its financial operations as open as > possible. > > Keith > > > At 15:52 28/11/2012, you wrote: >> Keith Hudson and I had a brief exchange on the merits of Chrystia Freeland's >> "Plutocrats". Both of us were bored after the first forty pages or so. He >> suggested that I read the concluding chapter and give up on the rest of the >> book. I almost did that but then decided I'd look at the book here and >> there and, lo and behold, I've found some interesting things. Thus far I've >> read some of the material on "rent-seekers", plutocrats who capture an >> increasing portion of existing wealth rather than producing "value-added" >> wealth themselves. The American and European financial sectors are >> outstanding examples. Working in an environment of decreasing regulation, >> many people in the field have become very rich via the invention and >> refinement of a large variety of securities and by shifting much of the risk >> of doing so onto the public sector, knowing full well that government would >> see them as too big to fail and bail them out if things went wrong. Things >> did indeed go wrong in 2008, and with some exceptions like Lehman Brothers, >> government did bail them out, imposing enormous costs on the public sector. >> >> I guess those of us who've paid any attention to the economy in the past few >> years already knew much of that, but Freeland includes a lot of extra >> information and detail that we couldn't have known unless we were >> journalists in the middle of it all, as she was. However, there was one >> thing that was new to me in what I read this morning. That was the role >> played by "rent-seekers" in China's conversion from what was supposed to >> have been a workers' paradise into plutocrat run state capitalism. >> According to Freeland, China is as corrupt at the top as America, Europe and >> oligarchic Russia. I found that rather painful because it wasn't supposed >> to be like that. When I was young and highly idealistic, I followed the >> Chinese Revolution very closely and greatly admired Mao Zedong. Mao was >> going to show us all what the world could really be like. Well, what seems >> to have transpired in reality is another road to hell paved with good >> intentions. >> >> I'll quit here, but may post more as I read more bits and pieces of >> Freeland's book. >> >> Ed >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework > > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
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