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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: arun gera who wrote (44636)	9/17/2002 1:16:58 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Do you pay a tip at restaurants? You can't get any kind of Government service in a lot of these countries without paying off. Every bureaucrat has their hand out. It leads to a degree of corruption that is unacceptable, IMO. If you want to consider it "tips," you open the door to corruption. You will see it just over the border in every little transaction, from getting out of a traffic ticket to needing a any kind of paper from a Mexican Government Official. This is one of the leading reasons for contempt by American tourists for Foreign countries.

To: arun gera who wrote (44636)	9/17/2002 7:49:32 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Do you pay a tip at restaurants? Yes, but if I didn't, I would still get service. The server might be surly but the boss would make sure I was served. I gather from your question that where you come from, tipping a government official is as common as tipping at a restaurant. There are many problems with that, and they all boil down to corruption. - Richer people get better service than poor people. This causes poor people to hate rich people, because the law should apply equally to everybody. This also causes poor people to hate the government because it cheats them. - People who have no right to service get it anyway because they are willing to pay for it. Thus, a criminal can commit crimes with impunity because he can bribe the police and the judges. The more powerful and richer a criminal is, the better able he is to bribe so criminals have incentives to commit robbery and extortion. But even more basic things, like adequate housing, are impossible when architects and engineers are willing to pay bribes to inspectors who will look the other way when buildings don't comply with the housing code. -Cutting corners and committing crimes becomes acceptable, and everybody starts doing it because it's easier than doing things the right way. Why be a chump? Everybody cheats. And that is the downfall of your society. Right there. The clerk in the town hall who takes a bribe and the cop on the street who takes a bribe are the first steps on the road to destruction.