In some of the countries where we operate, there is a tradition of corruption, in which the political elites work with business in the framework of unsavory relationships.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm very interested in how corruption works - and it's not necessarily the way one might expect.
Corruption is a cancer: a cancer that eats away at a citizen's faith in democracy, diminishes the instinct for innovation and creativity; already-tight national budgets, crowding out important national investments. It wastes the talent of entire generations. It scares away investments and jobs.
It's very simple. If the American people care about a lot of things including corruption in government, then, in fact, if you use the power to appoint in order to do political business, to clear fields, to save your party money and so on, if it's not a crime - and I believe it is - it certainly is business as usual, politics of corruption.
Unfortunately, corruption is widespread in government agencies and public enterprises. Our political system promotes nepotism and wasting money. This has undermined our legal system and confidence in the functioning of the state. One of the consequences is that many citizens don't pay their taxes.
Corruption is something you face all the time. Avoid it.
Corruption has reached an unacceptable level. It devours resources that could be devoted to the citizens. It impedes the proper carrying out of market rules and penalizes the honest and capable.
Until the nineteen-seventies, Western countries paid little attention to corruption overseas, and bribery was seen as an unpleasant but necessary part of doing business there. In some European countries, businesses were even allowed to deduct bribes as an expense.
Everyone says corruption is everywhere, but for me it seems strange to say that and then not try to put the people guilty of that corruption away.
Corruption is just another form of tyranny.
In any country, corruption tends to increase when more respectable means of social advancement break down.