Sunday, December 9, 2012

National and International Anti-Corruption Day

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By Terry Orr

Put a stop to bribery and corruption or risk leading business down a path of destruction!
International Anti-Corruption Day
9 December 2012

International Anti-Corruption Day - In 2010 the Secretary-General of the United Nations broadcasted a message loud and clear about the role of the day!

So what is anti-corruption? It’s businesses taking the initiative to adopt strong policies against corruption. Why? Because corruption crimes like bribery and extortion, corporate espionage can be detrimental to businesses and eventually democracy.

And there are signals that corruption could be occurring. If cash payments seem abnormal, lavish gifts are appearing out of the blue or normal procedures are suddenly being bypassed you might want to consider if there is something else at work.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has opened a past event which saw her voicing some very serious words about the issue! She emphasized the importance of fighting together to prevent the weakening of our economic climate by stopping criminals from feeding into black markets. Basically, the clearer the rules and leadership, the more transparent organizations will be forced to become! (Source: national-awareness-days.com)
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2012 Theme: Act Against Corruption Today

Corruption is a complex social, political and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development and contributes to governmental instability. Corruption attacks the foundation of democratic institutions by distorting electoral processes, perverting the rule of law and creating bureaucratic quagmires whose only reason for existing is the soliciting of bribes. Economic development is stunted because foreign direct investment is discouraged and small businesses within the country often find it impossible to overcome the "start-up costs" required because of corruption. (Source: UN)
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Corruption is an appearance known since ancient times, and includes practically every corner of the world. Recently this problem is perceived negatively in the international scale. Corruption, after the organized crime, is regarded as the greatest threat to the economy and democracy.

Corruption deprave society and denies the fundamental moral values. It is a crime primary associate with the public sector, but also applies to business, where impede free competition. (Source: Pepe.com)
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So my fellow citizens I ask you just how the heck can we correct this significant and ever increasing dilemma?

  • Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country. ~ Karl Kraus
  • I am against government by crony. ~ Harold L. Ickes
  • I have often noticed that a bribe has that effect -- it changes a relation. The man who offers a bribe gives away a little of his own importance; the bribe once accepted, he becomes the inferior, like a man who has paid for a woman. ~ Graham Greene
  • Life is a corrupting process from the time a child learns to play his mother off against his father in the politics of when to go to bed; he who fears corruption fears life. ~ Saul Alinsky

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Top 7 Corruption Quotes:
1.    “Corruption is authority plus monopoly minus transparency.”  - Unknown
2.    “The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.” - Friedrich Nietzsche
3.    “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” - Lord Acton
4.    "Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power." - George Bernard Shaw
5.    "Power attracts the corruptible. Absolute power attracts the absolutely corruptible." - Frank Herbert
6.    "It has often been said that power corrupts. But it is perhaps equally important to realize that weakness, too, corrupts. Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many. Hatred, malice, rudeness, intolerance, and suspicion are the faults of weakness. The resentment of the weak does not spring from any injustice done to them but from their sense of inadequacy and impotence. We cannot win the weak by sharing our wealth with them. They feel our generosity as oppression." - Eric Hoffer
7.    "Money is truthful. If a man speaks of his honor, make him pay cash." - Robert A. Heinlein
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Depending upon your source of information the past US Presidential cost exceeds $4 billion and up to $8 billion.  There are lots of folks wanting something for all that money.  Think of all the good that kind of money could take care of – especially in the wake of Sandy.  Is there any hope of changing the direction we are headed in America?
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Your thoughts and recommendations are most welcome!


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