U.S. drops out of top 20 performers in global corruption index, watchdog says

By Andrea Shalal

 

FILE PHOTO: The U.S. flag flies near the Statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. November 2, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

 

BERLIN (Reuters) - The United States slid four points lower on a global corruption index in 2018, dropping out of the top 20 countries for the first time since 2011, watchdog Transparency International said in a report that cited growing threats to democracy worldwide.

 

The group said its latest report on business leaders' perceptions of corruption put the United States at 71, down from 75, on a scale of 0-100.

 

That sounds a "wake-up call" about the need to tackle conflicts of interest, undue influence of the private sector and widening gaps between rich and poor, said Zoe Reiter, the watchdog's acting representative to the United States.

 

"This is a red flag because it's really part of a pattern that we've seen since the 2008 global financial crisis of a loss of trust ... in our public institutions," she told Reuters. "People don't see us as having adequate mechanisms in place to fight corruption and ensure the accountability of our elected officials."

 

Concerns were already mounting before the election of Donald Trump, although they have been highlighted by the actions of a rich president who defied precedent to keep his personal tax affairs secret and retain his business holdings in office.

 

"Concerns around the Trump administration are quite serious, but this has been stewing for several years," she said. "Conflict of interest wasn't a new problem, but it was illuminated in its glory when you have someone who is basically breaking norms."

"Trump is a symptom not a cause. His presidency is illuminating some of the problems."

 

Denmark and New Zealand had the best scores on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) again in 2018, scoring 88 and 87, while Somalia, Syria and South Sudan remained at the bottom, with scores of 10, 13 and 13, TI said.

 

Overall, more than two-thirds of countries scored below 50 on the 2018 index, and the average was 43, said TI, which has more than 100 chapters worldwide.

 

The group said only 20 countries had significantly improved their scores since 2012, including Argentina and Ivory Coast. Sixteen others, including Australia, Chile and Malta, declined significantly in the same period.

 

The average score for EU and western European countries held steady at 66, while sub-Saharan Africa scored just 32, TI said. A score of 100 is considered "very clean", while a score of zero is highly corrupt.

 

TI said its analysis showed a clear link between having a healthy democracy and fighting public sector corruption, and cited declining scores for Turkey and Hungary, in connection with challenges to the rule of law and press freedoms.

 

Hungary's score dropped by eight points to 46 over the past five years, amid troubling developments including the forced departure of the Open Society Foundation and Central European University, founded by philanthropist George Soros, TI said.

 

Turkey's score dropped by nine points in the same period to a score of 41, as the country was downgraded to 'not free' on a democracy ranking, TI said.

 

"Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and ... where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage," said Delia Ferreira Rubio, who chairs the global civil society group.

 

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Peter Graff)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-01-29

  

20 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Concerns around the Trump administration are quite serious, but this has been stewing for several years," she said. "Conflict of interest wasn't a new problem, but it was illuminated in its glory when you have someone who is basically breaking norms."

"Trump is a symptom not a cause. His presidency is illuminating some of the problems." 

 

20 minutes ago, webfact said:

"Corruption is much more likely to flourish where democratic foundations are weak and ... where undemocratic and populist politicians can use it to their advantage," said Delia Ferreira Rubio, who chairs the global civil society group.

Wonder if Trump will take credit for the US decline.  MAGA!

I wonder if Thailand offered some brown envelopes to Transparency officials to uplift their rating .

11 minutes ago, Lucius verus said:

I wonder if Thailand offered some brown envelopes to Transparency officials to uplift their rating .

Thailand's rating actually dropped from 37 to 36 in 2018, with a similar drop in position from 96 to 99 (out of 180 countries).

How did the other Russian satellite states do?

22 minutes ago, grumbleweed said:

How did the other Russian satellite states do?

Do you know Google ?

 

https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018

Glad to see that Hungary kicked out George Soros's "democratic'' stooges.

 

 

U.S. corruption is at it worst in in the institutionalised revolving door politics, lobbying, gerrymandering, vote denial and political funding. Corruption isn't just about pocketing the nations money, its about accepting big oils money and then being head of the E.P.A. or moving from a big bank into government and then making decisions on banking. The U.S. is far worse than this table suggests.

1 hour ago, dabhand said:

Thailand's rating actually dropped from 37 to 36 in 2018, with a similar drop in position from 96 to 99 (out of 180 countries).

Yep, I thought so.

How can this article call Soros a philanthropist, he has destroyed or nearly destroyed thousands of families. 

MAGA!

winning winning winning.... yay!

The article and index it references are all about business leaders perceptions, NOT fact.  Kind of a worthless index.  The biggest problem in the USA in my view is the money funneled to election campaigns and influence peddling.  Whether or not the large campaign donations actually influence anything is a question but the perception of candidates spending excessive amounts of money to get elected or reelected makes a person wonder what's going on. Very few actual corruption scandals actually happen in the overall scheme of things.

You'd think perceptions and confidence would be higher. 

 

 

 

We do the biggest falls.  Nobody does falls better than us.

18 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

Do you know Google ?

 

https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018

Whooosh!!!

 

(That was the sound of the joke going straight over your head)

10 hours ago, Trouble said:

The article and index it references are all about business leaders perceptions, NOT fact.  Kind of a worthless index.  The biggest problem in the USA in my view is the money funneled to election campaigns and influence peddling.  Whether or not the large campaign donations actually influence anything is a question but the perception of candidates spending excessive amounts of money to get elected or reelected makes a person wonder what's going on. Very few actual corruption scandals actually happen in the overall scheme of things.

I'm not sure if you're aware, but the CPI is about a great many things including freedom of the press, strong/fair judiciary, separation of power, inequality, conflicts of interest, transparency in government, etc.  By just about every measure, Trump has failed.  He's undermined key US institutions that help us battle corruption.  Trump is the most dishonest and corrupt President we've ever had.  The longer Trump stays in office, the lower the US will fall. 

Thank you, President Trump!

On 1/29/2019 at 11:36 AM, Trouble said:

The article and index it references are all about business leaders perceptions, NOT fact.  Kind of a worthless index.  The biggest problem in the USA in my view is the money funneled to election campaigns and influence peddling.  Whether or not the large campaign donations actually influence anything is a question but the perception of candidates spending excessive amounts of money to get elected or reelected makes a person wonder what's going on. Very few actual corruption scandals actually happen in the overall scheme of things.

So election perceptions are meaningful, business leaders perceptions on corruption are not?

 

The Transparency International Corruption Perception Index is recognized as imperfect, but so far nobody has come up with a better way to measure corruption in a country.  How would you go about measuring corruption? 

Interesting reading from Transparency International:

 

"Key issues include the influence of wealthy individuals over government; “pay to play” politics and the revolving doors between elected government office, for-profit companies, and professional associations; and the abuse of the US financial system by corrupt foreign kleptocrats and local elites."

 

The current US president was elected on a promise of cleaning up American politics and making government work better for those who feel their interests have been neglected by political elites." 

 

"Yet, rather than feeling better about progress in the fight against corruption over the past year, a clear majority of people in America now say that things have become worse."   https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_in_the_usa_the_difference_a_year_makes

 

But, but, but....Drain the Swamp!

On 1/29/2019 at 2:08 AM, canopus1969 said:

Do you know Google ?

 

https://www.transparency.org/cpi2018

 

These type of "google it" posts are completely unproductive for web forums. Anybody can Google and find whatever opinion matches their own. Forums are for discussion and from the admin stand point of a forum it is much much better to create content on TV. 

 

 

I wonder if Thailand offered some brown envelopes to Transparency officials to uplift their rating .

3rd post and straight into thai bashing on a topic about the USA.
And you guys wonder why thailand immigration wants you out!

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

 

These type of "google it" posts are completely unproductive for web forums. Anybody can Google and find whatever opinion matches their own. Forums are for discussion and from the admin stand point of a forum it is much much better to create content on TV. 

 

 

You kind of missed the point of the post. The guy was joking.

I was surprised when the US rating DID NOT take a hit during the Cheney administration W Bush years.  I suspected people running the index were compromised in some way.