Comments by "Andy Dee" (@AndyViant) on "Economics Explained"
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The reality is simply that the corruption in advanced economies is not defined as "corruption" by the people doing it as they're the law makers. Instead we talk about things like "rent seeking" whereby major industries lobby government for favourable laws or tax exemptions, or a developer who provides political donations gets favourable rezoning that sees the land they hold rezoned from agricultural land to medium density residential, creating tens of millions of dollars. Or of course, for an airport zone in Western Sydney in the "Leppington Triangle", hmmm?
Or pastoral leases or mining leases. Or who is allowed to purchase a coal fired power station for $1 MIllion that's worth closer to $700 Million in the real world and everyone knows it.
The problem with such corruption is it flows up - creating greater wealth for the already wealthy, allowing them to buy more power and influence, thus creating more corruption. And it only ever gets offered to political mates.
At least the dodgy cop looking to make your fine disappear for $50 under the table is never going to own your politicians. If it's abuse of power, trumping up a charge for an offence you didn't commit to make you pay the bribe in the first place, then it's a huge problem with undermining law and order. Think of the movie Cool Hand Luke and having your tail light smashed by a corrupt cop. If it's a fine you earned fair and square, but they're offering a reduced fine it's not really a big deal - it's more a paperwork efficiency thing. Plus of course, then as the saying goes if you can pay a fine, it's really only an actual crime for poor people.
That's the thing really.
3rd world type petty corruption at the coal face is churned back into the economy. It's small scale and it just gets rolled back in
High end first world rent seeking or lobbying shifts the whole economic system to create permanent winners and losers who gain generations of wealth, power and influence. It basically hands substantial level of power to those people and their children and their children's children forever, and then it gets reinvested to buy more power. Creating little empires and royal families within your democracy forever. The Murdochs? The Rockefellers?
It's by far the greater evil.
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