China and Saudi have started to clean house of corruption, and everyone here in the Philippines know that the drug war behind the headlines is about stopping our good catholic politicians from stealing government funding supposed to help the poor and taking bribes from drug dealers.
but ig goes deeper than that: To get anything done, you are required to give a gift.
StrategyPage on Mexico shows only one country as an example.
not only do they mention
The new study estimated that in 2014 criminal activity in Mexico generated $58.5 billion. Narcotics trafficking contributed to that figure but so did tax fraud and illicit monetary transactions (money laundering be one of them). The study relied on data supplied by the Bank of Mexico as well as major government agencies. $58 to $60 billion is just about seven percent of Mexico's GDP.
butt this part is how it hurts ordinary folks:
That study concluded 51 percent of Mexican citizens must pay kickbacks to state sector employees in order to receive basic services within the education system, court system and medical (hospital) system. Policemen also demand kickbacks in return for routine police services. The Transparency International report documents complaints Mexican citizens have been making for decades. Last year another study estimated nine out of ten crimes in the country go unreported because the people don't trust the police. (Austin Bay)
this is the real reason behind why so many Mexicans try to emigrate to the USA: because this corruption keeps people poor.
And of course, Mexico is not the worst example, but they are close enough to the USA to get a valid investigation of what is going on.
Sigh.
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