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corruptions in other countries

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kunjuppu

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there is a website called goodnewsindia.com, which stresses on the positive aspects of india.

but as far as i know, there is none to highlight the corruption in other countries, particularly the european union.

to give the public, from what i know, the european union is a vast bureaucracy, which tries to formalize common rules and regulations across the EU.

when it started in the 1950s, it was called the ECM (common market) at the insistence of the french. initially, it was only western europe, and it was french idea to rope germany in into a trade treaty, such that it will not be a military threat anymore.

it worked. so successful it was, that other countries soon wanted to join it.

britain, which had its own commonwealth of nations, ie ex british empire, was at first reluctant as commonwealth products (butter, lamb from new zealand, lamb, wool from australia, sugar, bananas from the west indies) got preferential no duty treatment. all that had to go with britain joining the ECM.

soon, the ECM became the EU, and with the downfall of the Soviet Union, all the erstwhile soviet bloc countries petitioned and became EU members. many adopted the common currency the euro.

an elaborate bureaucracy was established at brussels which without knowing the culture of the individual countries, came out with common regulations.

one such foolish regulations, among many, was that there should be no fern or plant between the farms. in england, with its own traditions, it was common for ferns to divide the farms. with the regulations, the fences came down, and with it, the crops, due to worms and germs eating up the crops.

the fences, provided nesting places for the birds, which ate the worms and germs. after two years, the british farmers could not care less about brussels, and up went the plant fences, and up went the farm yields :)

this was told to me by a tour guide during a bus tour of england, a few years ago.

the poorer countries like greece had great pretensions due to their membership to EU accepted. they were quick to accept the euro because the sharp greeks found it a way to make big bucks.

overnight, the prices erstwhile quoted in drachmas (last rate 340 drachma to the euro), were just changed re the currency, and did not quite reflect the rate.

so, the greeks, suddenly had a rich income on paper, not supported by an economy base. now they are in big trouble.

also, a few years ago, we could find in our market, a lot of 'virgin cold pressed olive oil', at discount prices. this is supposed to be prime olive oil, gentle and subtle in its flavour, and often is sold in toronto at $12 - 14 a litre. all of a sudden we could get the same at $8 a litre.

the farming and supermarket system here works on an honour system. people are gullible enough to believe the honesty of the farmers. if something is quoted as 'organic' we believe no chemical fertilzers were used thus excusing for the sad sight of these tired products.

personally, i always suspected, that the farmers took advantage of the stupid bureaucrats (the french farmers have a huuuuge political clout) subsidies.

here is an interesting story

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/world/europe/28olives.html?_r=1&hpw

farming is heavily subisdised in the west, which is why, farm products from the west is dumped at floor low prices in india and elsewhere. we need to protect our farmers, till such time it is not needed.
 
This is a good topic, Shri. Kunjippu. To think there is no corruption in other countries is naive. The difference between corruption in India and other countries is in India it permeates all levels of society that if affects everyone hard. So you find corruption in the judiciary, police, customs, municipality, utilities and so on even on a transactional level. In the West, we find a different kind of corruption. Here corruption is at the higher levels, I think largely initiated by giant multinationals. In the US we find this rotten system of corporate funding for politicians that even an idiot will not believe that the Senator is not representing his donor. So laws get made in favor of businesses. This is a form of corruption as well as it puts an indirect charge on the consumer. I think the biggest culprits would be companies in food, pharma, arms/ammunition, tobacco and alcohol sectors because it pays to bend laws in order to make profits. Just google to find out how Monsanto is screwing up the lives of farmers all over the world. One such link given below

Monsanto's Bt Cotton Failing in the Fields.
 
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