Fabulous food, warm hearts, and open hands:
Greece was recently rated the most corrupt country in Europe according to Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perception Index, and 78th out of 178 ranked countries.
The average Greek family pays about 1,500 euros ($2,000) a year in various forms of bribery, according to surveys conducted by Transparency International Greece.
Hello. What can I do for you?
The biggest problem is the hospitals though,” said Leandros Rakintzis, Greece’s general inspector of Public Administration….Recently, one American expatriate married to a Greek woman had to slip 50 euros to an anesthesiologist and 40 euros to the nurse on duty before seeing his newborn baby…
Sounds like Liberal heaven.
BTW, didn’t we just tar and feather the Canadian Liberal Party a couple of years ago for the same thing?
Bribery is such an ugly word. There is also the possibility that the collectors of “informal contributions” also have to incur expenses to maintain their positions.
OK – I get it. Greece should actually be spelled “Grease” as in “Grease the palm”.
Corruption rots the very soul of a country. From the massive corruption with drug money to the daily payment of bribes to officials it leads to the destruction of any country caught in its web.
A Russian friend in Moscow always has to have US dollars to pay police as they will stop you with false charges of speeding while sitting in a traffic jam. A co-worker from Brazil who worked for an import company had to pay a customs official $30k to get equipment moved from the dock to the new plant.
Don’t we do it all the time when we tip people like limo drivers or wait staff just for doing their jobs.
Bribery and corruption stifle wealth and the growth of small business just as taxation and influence peddling by government officials does.
So, if Quebec separates and becomes independent will there be a tie for first place?
No, there will a a clear and new winner.
At least bribery is straightforward.
You pay your money, and you get something specific in return.
Now, taxes …
were in central or south america is Grease located????
Where in the word “were” is the “h” located?
It is always prudent to shoot anyone in authority that requires a bribe to do what they have been hired and are paid to do for the citizenry. It’s called freedom fighting.
Fraud, graft and corruption…FGC Financial how can I help you?
Cheers
Hans-Christian Georg Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group “True North”
It’s called freedom fighting.
~Abe Froman
“Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?
They never mention that part to us, do they?”
~George Carlin
So freedom fighters fight bribery?
Maybe bribery should be a crime and we should get the crime fighters to fight bribery.
Simple solution: Less Government, less corruption and bribery.
The Governments of the world are pointing fingers and telling us that the evil bankers and corporations are the problem.
Banks and Corporations do not have legislative power over the citizenry, Governments do.
When you know that Governments are bought and prepackaged by big money in the first place…You know they are just throwing boomerangs.
The true enemy is big Government: The Enabler.
OZ,
Are you drunk?
Bribery is a crime and it’s our crime fighters (government) who are the ones who can and will indulge in it.
Yes, Abe, I know bribery is a crime for government officials and agents.
Influence peddling should be a crime too.
Is it yet a crime for private citizens to bribe other private citizens or for private citizens who got their influence and connections as former government officials to peddle their influence?
Some people once wondered how Jean Chretien could be a partner in an Ottawa Law firm and the same Calgary Law firm that Peter Lougheed is a partner in.
Influence.
The biggest difference between us and Greece/Mexico/Russia,is they have their bakshish distributed at the ground level,while ours occurs only at the highest levels of government.
Want to get results? Bribe a government official or MP.
Greek health care system is funded through payroll taxes, general tax revenue and bribery. Bribery is important mechanism to establish price signals, so the service can be allocated efficiently in quantity and quality.
I have my personal story with appendectomy in Athens that happen over twenty years ago. I landed in hospital on Sunday evening and surgeons’ strike was about to start on Monday. The money wasn’t the issue as I did not have much, but the quick and successful operation in perhaps the best hospital in the city at that time was possible because “depends who do you know”. It took great community effort to trigger the connections.
Racists!
xiat – A Norwegian acquaintance of mine wound up in a Greek hospital after falling through a window. He had to rely on some Germans to bring him food and change the linen on his bed as those services were not provided. Great healthcare!
The corruption in Greece is enough to make a guy take his cash from under his mattress and hide it in brown paper bags.