WANT TO SQUELCH CORRUPTION? TRY PASSING OUT RAISES.

This article focuses on the need to reduce corruption from public offices. In recent years charges about corrupt public officials have toppled or weakened governments in many nations. Elected and appointed officials sometimes betray the public trust in their regulation of companies and labor unions, or when they arrange the purchase and sale of goods and services. Temptations arise because government employees are usually low-paid, and some may be willing to accept bribes. Extensive and continuing scandals in Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, Panama, and parts of Asia are related to payoffs from drug cartel and other distributors of illegal drugs. The only way to reduce corruption permanently is to drastically cut back government's role in the economy.