Posts Tagged ‘Transparency International’
Denmark, Singapore, New Zealand tie for least corrupt nations
Would you buy a used car from either of these clowns?
Denmark, Singapore and New Zealand formed a three-way tie as the least corrupt countries in the 2010 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, while Somalia was rated the most corrupt and the U.S score declined.
Those three countries were the leaders last year as well, though in 2009 New Zealand was first, with Denmark and Singapore closely behind. The index, developed for at least the last 15 years by the Berlin-based international anti-corruption group, is widely used by business, civil society groups and others when determining corruption risk across the globe.
This year, the index found that three-quarters of the 178 countries scored below 5 on a Zero-to-10 scale, indicating serious corruption problems. A country’s perceived corruption decreases as its score increases. Denmark, Singapore and New Zealand each scored a 9.3, whereas Somalia scored a 1.1 and the U.S. saw its score drop to 7.1 in 2010 from 7.5 a year ago…
“We need to see more enforcement of existing rules and laws. There should be nowhere to hide for the corrupt or their money,” said Huguette Labelle, chair of Transparency International, in the statement.
Of the hundreds of sources covering the release of this report, I chose the Wall Street Journal – just to peep the conservative moneyboys perception of corruption. The result was predictable – scant mention that the United States continues in decline. BTW, the USA was 14th before George W’s election. Now, we’re 22nd.
Here we sit with a vocal group ranging from Republicans to nutball teabaggers calling for a return to governance by the slimeballs who not only succeeded in reducing family incomes; but, dedicated their time in town to increasing official corruption in Congress.
On the other side, a vaguely liberal circus absent serious backbone says they’re ready and willing to lead us to safety – if not prosperity. Not that we’ve seen much more than elemental practices which prevented a complete collapse of our economy and infrastructure. That’s a minimal accomplishment compared to election-time promises.
Wow. What a wonderful world of choice. Here in New Mexico we have one reasonably courageous senator and one matching congressman [not in my district - so, I don't get to vote for him]. The rest are the same old, lame old story – running against a stereotypical slate of Republicans whose only claim to fame is that they’re presently unemployed in government.
War-torn nations ‘most corrupt’ – peaceful nations ‘least corrupt’
War-torn nations remain the world’s most corrupt, Transparency International (TI) has said.
Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia are the lowest-ranked countries in TI’s annual global survey. They were all at the bottom of the list last year as well. “When essential institutions are weak or non-existent, corruption spirals out of control,” TI said.
New Zealand was the least corrupt, with last year’s winner Denmark as runner-up and Singapore third. It said this was a result of “political stability, long established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions”…
The UK ranked 17th, down one place from last year. The US also fell one place to 19th.
The last-named two are still engrossed in the discovery phase of corruption under Bush and Blair.
