Germany’s top financial supervisor dismissed a decade of warnings about Wirecard

Post by literallycancer » Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 3:32 PM UTC

oblio wrote: post #214

gumby wrote: post #105

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Germany is notable for its lack of “retail” or low level corruption (cops don’t take bribes, you can get a building permit by following the rules, etc). One of the best in the world. But at the highest levels the opposite prevails, up there with France or even the US. Not Kleptocracy by any means, but bad by OECD standards. Because it’s so institutionalized it doesn’t really appear in those “corruption index” reports…

I'm from Romania. You don't know how good you have it. The low level corruption is the thing that eats away at your soul and poisons your day to day life. High level corruption? Awful, but we have that too. But having to bribe the nurse so that your grandma gets painkillers (or toilet paper!) in the hospital? Having to bribe the police officer to get your driver's license? Having to bribe the lady at the counter work…

Post by literallycancer » Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 3:40 PM UTC

squiggleblaz wrote: post #64

cosmodisk wrote: post #38

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All western countries are corrupt. The difference from the usual suspects is the way it's done. If in Russia, it may be as simple as cash in hand, in Germany or Britain it will be kids placement into a nice job, maybe a donation to a family run charity org, or a contract to friend's friend's construction company. Or even the good old one,where you do a favour and 5-7 years later, once not in government position anymo…

You're being downvoted because network effects aren't the same as corruption. Although it is certainly unpleasant to consider that government officials might be making decisions more favorable to one company than another in the hope or expectation that that they will get a board seat five years hence, it is worth noting that if they upset one company now, they may get the board seat on the other company. And since an…

Post by tsimionescu » Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 3:57 PM UTC

qayxc wrote: post #276

tsimionescu wrote: post #146

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Corruption is different from gross incompetence and unethical behavior.

You're still missing the point completely - corruption is a crime . The problem is that pretty much nothing these politicians do is actually illegal and thus doesn't constitute a crime in the first place. This is why legislation and regulations need to change, because that's way easier than trying to change people. If you don't like the rules of the game, demand to change the rules instead of shouting "You're all che…

Post by rurban » Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 4:06 PM UTC

kensai wrote: post #317

rurban wrote: post #284

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Opinion yes, but the second assessment ("Gutachten") will not examine the accused personally, only the paperwork. In all cases psychiatric assessors will trust their colleagues more than written defenses or observations. Only if the first assessment is internally severely flawed it can be overruled. In most cases the first assessment just ignores any contradicting evidence, so the independent assessors had no chance…

The Gutachten is done directly on the patient if it is so ordered by the judge. It is supposed to be an independent assessment, not even caring what the first assessment was stating. What are you talking about?

Post by msla » Sat, Jul 18, 2020, 4:40 PM UTC

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #310

usrusr wrote: post #62

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My impression is that during the formative decades of West German power structures (let's say late Adenauer to early Kohl), the entire surrounding culture of media, regulators and of course politicians and business people themselves, failed to develop an awareness for corruption because everything was so nicely self-regulated by what basically boils down to modesty. In terms of anti-corruption measures it was like th…

> Now decades of neoliberal ideology have swept away that modesty, greed has slowly shifted from vice to virtue, but the trust is still there. Please explain your definition of “neoliberal” to us.