Corruption is just a form of bargaining. How is this different from cities clamoring to build new stadia for the NFL, except that the latter is cloaked in a veil of respectability?

Just a way things are done in much of the world. Not necessarily good nor evil. Who the HELL are we to impose our idea of morality and fair play on the rest of the world? The US needs to be cut down to size and know its place. Things like this make me ashamed to be an American.

Murdering cops walk. Warmongers responsible for tens of thousands of deaths walk. Gross polluters who also kill people walk. Bankers who commit fraud walk. But soccer officials get indicted. I hope a Swiss judge makes it damn hard for us to extradite/kidnap those people to the US.

BTW – incorruptible people who truly believe in what they’re doing can be just as bad. A lot of genocidal thugs have been true believers rather than being corrupt, and a lot of corrupt officials have actually been decent in other respects.

You’re looking at this from a naive, pious, holier-than-thou American perspective. Corruption in many cases is just tipping on a larger scale.

And let’s not kid ourselves. We’re highly corrupt. We just choose to cloak it in legality and legitimacy and not call it what it is. We call it lobbying, dealmaking, or urban renewal.

Small-scale corruption also helps the many and tempers over-zealous regulations and fines. Much better to be able to pay a cop $50 to go fuck off vs getting a $1000 ticket for a comparatively minor offense. Cop gets a few bucks, higher-ups get a cut, everyone walks away happy.

We have the worst of both worlds here in Dumberica. Over-zealous regulations, high fines, often enforced on those least able to pay. Combined with brainwashed cops who are proud of their incorruptibility and are all too willing to use violence to enforce the petty regulations.

We’re not ones to talk about a level playing field when we keep 1% of our population in prison and keep another large % unemployable due to criminal records.

We’re just throwing our (too great, obese) weight around in order to make the world easy for American corporations to operate in abroad. Yay for increased homogeneity and turning the world’s cities into giant malls.

It’s no wonder why a lot of people outside the US hate us, and they’re right to do so.

^^^ Well said.

I support the child sex laws. As far as anti-bribery, I don’t really support it. Different cultures have different definitions of civilization, and I don’t see the need for us to force our definition on the rest of the world. As I said, low-level corruption is often a good thing. Red tape and overzealous legislation will exist regardless. The ability to cut through that sort of mess is a good thing.

Besides, oftentimes, the really evil people in government are the true believers, not the people who take some money on the side.

FIFA was a private organization. If its officials chose to auction off locations for the World Cup via who could pay the biggest bribe, I don’t actually have a problem with it. We’re not talking about building a hospital here. We’re talking about the location for a child’s game.

Our ire should have been limited to not participating, not throwing our weight around like a drunken elephant and kidnapping (or trying to — we’ll see what the Swiss courts say) people from abroad.