[Sheflug - Sheffield Linux User's Group] Re: On LinuxToday... erm... today :)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <nospam [at] sk.tsukuba.ac.jp>]

>>>>> "Ian" == Ian Wright <Ian [at] iw63.freeserve.co.uk> writes:

    Ian> From: Stephen J. Turnbull <turnbull [at] sk.tsukuba.ac.jp>
    Ian> To: <sheflug [at] vuw.ac.nz>

    >> You know, AFAIK the U.S. I.R.S. still permits companies to
    >> deduct outright bribes from taxable income as a "necessary and
    >> usual business expense" in some places (not the U.K., IIRC ;).
    >> 
    >> Point being, a good businessman (and Perot is nothing if not a
    >> good businessman) covers all the contingencies; paying off
    >> bureaucrats doesn't prove anything about quality of product.

    Ian> I wish I'd been aware of such possibilities when I worked

Well, they probably weren't there; I think bribes, even of the bottle
of whisky or expensive working lunch variety, are a lot rarer than
some people like to think.[1]

I just get sick of hearing about how successful businessmen (that the
speaker doesn't like) are apparently bribing their way to success.  So
I took the assumption for sake of argument and turned it on its head.

    Ian> there. The only cases I know of where a council employee took
    Ian> a backhander (and I was in a high enough position to hear
    Ian> about the inverstigation of such things) in each case
    Ian> resulted in instant dismissal for the person concerned.

Well, good for you and your council!

Not to disagree with your assessment on compensation and apathy, of
course.  But how to consistently provide good incentives in the public
sector is a nut noone's figured how to crack yet.



Footnotes: 
[1]  Backhanders of the "bottle of whisky" variety really are that
common here in Japan, though.  But they don't matter: the real payoff
is that a good little bureaucrat can retire early and become a 8
hr/week "consultant" for the firms he threw business to, and at 3
times the pay.  And well worth it, since he can convince his
replacement to throw more good business after bad.

-- 
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