Poll
Question:
Have you ever paid a bribe?
Option 1: Yes
votes: 7
Option 2: No
votes: 33
Option 3: I've taken bribes
votes: 1
I saw this on the BBC and wondered if anyone here had paid bribes:
QuoteCorruption getting worse, says pollLatest news
Map: Which country pays the most bribes?
One person in four has paid a bribe to a public body in the last year, according to a survey carried out in 95 countries by Transparency International.
The poor record of some African nations on bribery stands out. Sierra Leone has the highest number of respondents admitting to having paid a bribe - 84% - and seven out of nine of the countries with the highest reported bribery rate are in sub-Saharan Africa. See the list below. The countries with the lowest reported bribery rate are Denmark, Finland, Japan and Australia, they all have a bribery rate of 1%.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fspecial%2F2013%2Fnewsspec_5501%2Fimg%2F7and8map564x370bribe.gif&hash=f236b3481b74c29ba522702a55e3f8c5ec1a3bc8)
Transparency International's Global Corruption Barometer gathered data from 95 countries on bribery. For a small number of them, including Brazil and Russia, data on particular questions has been excluded because of concerns about validity and reliability. For the question on corrupt institutions 105 countries were covered.
The margin of error for each country is 3%. The typical sample size is 1,000 people. Four countries - Cyprus, Luxembourg, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands - have a sample size of 500 people and a margin of error of 4%.
Darker is more bribery, lighter is less, grey is no information. It's clearer in the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23231318 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23231318)
When I was in Egypt a couple times police officers begged money off of me. One gave me a sob story about his two wives and fifteen children. I thought it was probably in my best interest to give them a few Egyptian pounds.
When I was in the cellular industry we had a tower that was mired in the endless bureaucracy of the Detroit City Tower Advisory Board and Detroit City Council. One "Consultant" approached us after a particularly vicious session and offered to "Help" us for a modest fee. We "Hired" him and it was approved next session.
Absolutely.
Quote from: Siege on July 09, 2013, 02:48:14 PM
Absolutely.
Is that common in Israel, or was that when you were overseas in the service?
No.
I've been on a couple of guided trips in various countries and have seen our guides bribing military or police officers. But never did it myself.
In Germany, low-level bribery seems uncommon. It's more likely that there is big scale corruption with construction works or so.
Not directly, that I can remember. I've given gifts to build up goodwill but it's never been any sort of immediate quid pro quo.
Not sure whether the characterize it as a bribe or extortion but once in Mexico a police officer made it pretty clear to me that if I wanted to enjoy the rest of my day/trip a small contribution to his well being would be in order.
No, which makes me wonder, maybe I have to travel more. :(
Quote from: Savonarola on July 09, 2013, 02:50:02 PM
Quote from: Siege on July 09, 2013, 02:48:14 PM
Absolutely.
Is that common in Israel, or was that when you were overseas in the service?
Overseas. You can get whatever you want.
I've bribed my kids a couple of times.
Yes, I tip.
My mother in law got pulled over by an Argie cop for some minor traffic offense. He just wanted a bribe, of course, but she didn't have any cash in her purse. He finally just asked for 60 cents so he could buy a coffee and she dug that out of the ashtray for him.
I've never really come close to real bribery in the States or any first world country, but I've traveled extensively especially before I was 32 or so and in parts of the world if you ain't bribing you ain't getting anywhere or doing anything as a white guy. The only debate is if they are really "bribes" or "unofficial tolls" or "extortion."
Quote from: derspiess on July 09, 2013, 03:18:47 PM
My mother in law got pulled over by an Argie cop for some minor traffic offense. He just wanted a bribe, of course, but she didn't have any cash in her purse. He finally just asked for 60 cents so he could buy a coffee and she dug that out of the ashtray for him.
:D
No. Not even when travelling.
I lived in Istanbul.
Paid several... one in Mexico, a few in Indonesia and a few in Malaysia and Thailand.
I plead the FiF.
Nope. Never paid one and never taken one in any profession where it would be illegal.
Nope. Never have, not even in the Philippines.
Closest I've come is buying a drink for the karaoke DJ so I don't have to wait as long to sing.
To those who have, I imagine the recipient makes it pretty clear he wants a bribe? I ask because last time I was in Jamaica I was sitting on the beach at night with a Dutch guy who lights up a splif. Copper materializes out of thin air, Dutchman chucks the splif in the sand. I start schmoozing and brown nosing the copper when this other dimbulb I'm sitting with blurts out "if there's a fine we could pay it now, to you."
:bleeding:
I gotta figure that's not the way it's done.
Copper liked my brown nosing and let Dutchy go with a warning to smoke in the hotel, ,not on the beach.
Why no data for so many western countries? :hmm:
I'm quite afraid of corruption and bribery. Mostly because I hate spending money. But also because I doubt I'd be very good at picking up on the signals that its what I have to do.
Quote from: Tyr on July 09, 2013, 07:05:13 PM
Why no data for so many western countries? :hmm:
I imagine they're less of a priority for Transparency International.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 09, 2013, 07:02:38 PM
when this other dimbulb I'm sitting with blurts out "if there's a fine we could pay it now, to you."
:bleeding:
I gotta figure that's not the way it's done.
:lol:
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 09, 2013, 07:08:11 PM
Quote from: Tyr on July 09, 2013, 07:05:13 PM
Why no data for so many western countries? :hmm:
I imagine they're less of a priority for Transparency International.
Whereas those shifty Canadians...
Quote from: Admiral Yi on July 09, 2013, 07:02:38 PM
To those who have, I imagine the recipient makes it pretty clear he wants a bribe? I ask because last time I was in Jamaica I was sitting on the beach at night with a Dutch guy who lights up a splif. Copper materializes out of thin air, Dutchman chucks the splif in the sand. I start schmoozing and brown nosing the copper when this other dimbulb I'm sitting with blurts out "if there's a fine we could pay it now, to you."
:bleeding:
I gotta figure that's not the way it's done.
:lmfao: SMOOTH MOVE MAGOO
No. Unless girls count.
Nope. It's just very uncommon here in the US. Odd that they didn't have any data on the US, UK, France, Russia or China. I'm under the impression that bribery is extremely common in Russia, fairly common in China and not unheard of in France.
It's incredible that after 27 posts Italy isn't even nominated :yeah:
Bribes as a way to ease one's everyday work, it never happened to me; in middle east countries for Holiday, yes every time I go there.
L.
Austria needs to be light orange, I think.
I think it would be useful to differentiate bribes and extortion.
In my mind, if I pay a corrupt official cash to do something for me that he is not supposed to, that's a bribe. If I'm told by an official that something unjustified and undesirable will happen to me unless I pay, or he won't do his duty unless I pay, that's extortion.
I am not bribing a policeman if it's the end of the month and he pulls me over on a clearly invented traffic charge and threatens to impound my vehicle unless I pay him £5 in the local currency.
Quote from: Razgovory on July 10, 2013, 03:31:14 AM
Nope. It's just very uncommon here in the US. Odd that they didn't have any data on the US, UK, France, Russia or China. I'm under the impression that bribery is extremely common in Russia, fairly common in China and not unheard of in France.
The article says that Russia was left out due to questionable data validity. It probably is widespread, but corruption's so widespread over there that it's insanely difficult to get an accurate portrayal of it out of the country.
The way the US government's compartmentalized, they'd need a sample size of, say, 25,000 (500 per state) to get an accurate picture of the way it's broken down- otherwise, places like Detroit or Atlantic City would bleed into the representation of areas that have less of a problem with it.
Quote from: Razgovory on July 10, 2013, 03:31:14 AM
not unheard of in France.
I would suspect it is about as not unheard of as Spain and Italy and they are included.
Quote from: garbon on July 09, 2013, 08:47:49 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 09, 2013, 07:08:11 PM
Quote from: Tyr on July 09, 2013, 07:05:13 PM
Why no data for so many western countries? :hmm:
I imagine they're less of a priority for Transparency International.
Whereas those shifty Canadians...
Is Latin America not Western? I just assumed they are, having a Western culture and religion and geographical location, but conversations like these make me think some people do not regard them as such.
Quote from: Valmy on July 10, 2013, 08:14:33 AM
Is Latin America not Western? I just assumed they are, having a Western culture and religion and geographical location, but conversations like these make me think some people do not regard them as such.
They have a Western zip code and area code, but they're really on the other side of the tracks.
Quote from: Valmy on July 10, 2013, 08:14:33 AM
Quote from: garbon on July 09, 2013, 08:47:49 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 09, 2013, 07:08:11 PM
Quote from: Tyr on July 09, 2013, 07:05:13 PM
Why no data for so many western countries? :hmm:
I imagine they're less of a priority for Transparency International.
Whereas those shifty Canadians...
Is Latin America not Western? I just assumed they are, having a Western culture and religion and geographical location, but conversations like these make me think some people do not regard them as such.
they're western adjacent :P
When I was sailing, even though we had prior stamps on the passports, every Central and South American country we went to expected a gift in order for the local government official to give his okey dokey. If we didn't it was made clear that it could take a week on our first stop in country to "sort it out."
Quote from: Valmy on July 10, 2013, 08:14:33 AM
Quote from: garbon on July 09, 2013, 08:47:49 PM
Quote from: Sheilbh on July 09, 2013, 07:08:11 PM
Quote from: Tyr on July 09, 2013, 07:05:13 PM
Why no data for so many western countries? :hmm:
I imagine they're less of a priority for Transparency International.
Whereas those shifty Canadians...
Is Latin America not Western? I just assumed they are, having a Western culture and religion and geographical location, but conversations like these make me think some people do not regard them as such.
Well don't they still get lumped into 3rd world countries? Perhaps that's why.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 09, 2013, 06:37:02 PM
Nope. Never paid one and never taken one in any profession where it would be illegal.
I like the way this is worded. :D
Quote from: Malthus on July 10, 2013, 09:53:30 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on July 09, 2013, 06:37:02 PM
Nope. Never paid one and never taken one in any profession where it would be illegal.
I like the way this is worded. :D
That's goddamned right. :P
Quote from: Warspite on July 10, 2013, 05:26:20 AM
I think it would be useful to differentiate bribes and extortion.
In my mind, if I pay a corrupt official cash to do something for me that he is not supposed to, that's a bribe. If I'm told by an official that something unjustified and undesirable will happen to me unless I pay, or he won't do his duty unless I pay, that's extortion.
I am not bribing a policeman if it's the end of the month and he pulls me over on a clearly invented traffic charge and threatens to impound my vehicle unless I pay him £5 in the local currency.
That's fair, I should have worded the poll that way.
Of course not.