Corruption erodes social trust more in democracies than in autocracies

Post by bentt » Wed, Mar 18, 2026, 9:59 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #371

bentt wrote: post #318

I've often thought that in the USA we could use a type of crime that's called "Betrayal of the Public Trust". It is reserved specifically for public servants and elected officials. The idea is that if you choose to do that job, it is contingent on the public's trust. If you betray that trust it is important to recognize that specifically. This should include harsher sentencing. This should be a deterrent to those who…

Why would those who benefit from this crime ever outlaw it for themselves and their buddies? It makes no sense at all. Laws are only ever passed for a reason.

Post by NoToP » Fri, Mar 20, 2026, 5:00 PM UTC

andai wrote: post #82

dzink wrote: post #19

You have to understand how gears shift from there. Trust is essential for business transactions and specifically for long term investments. You can’t make massive leaps in technology or medicine or many other areas without trust (a lot of money on a leap means if you don’t trust the other side or the government to keep conditions stable, you won’t see a return). Now if you are in a high trust society, you may have a…

I have an unusual perspective here. In my country the politicians are openly very corrupt. (Well, possibly yours too ;) Recently there has been a lot of improvement to the infrastructure. I realized that what has happened is, a lot of EU funds have been made available for development, and people are lining up to skim a little bit off the top. How you say, the incentives are aligned, yeah? I find myself in the odd sit…