http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/3382/worse-than-naples/ My personal account of living real life in real Venice, and more Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:39:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/3382/worse-than-naples/comment-page-1/#comment-243 Erla Wed, 25 Nov 2009 17:09:39 +0000 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/?p=3382#comment-243 "Fraud" means "Any act, expression, omission, or concealment calculated to deceive another to his or her disadvantage." It's a crime, especially where money is concerned, in any country which has a formal legal system. Therefore your observation -- facetious, perhaps? -- that Italians should be "given credit" for committing a crime because they might object to the alternative (seeing their government misspend public funds) isn't a concept that I can either grasp or defend. Unless you're assuming that it's appropriate to justify one criminal action because other people are also doing the same, and worse. Presumably in most countries where a law exists for defining fraud, laws also exist for punishing fraud. I don't believe there is a special exception made for citizens who take pre-emptive measures to prevent government fraud by committing private fraud. Or have I misunderstood you? As for your curiosity about other countries, you might want to have a look at the Global Corruption Barometer published by Transparency International at www.transparency.org. Their summary says: "Globally, respondents perceived political parties as the single most corrupt domestic institution, followed closely by the civil service. Aggregate results, however, mask important country differences. In 13 of the countries sampled, the private sector was deemed to be the most corrupt, while in 11 countries the respondents identified the judiciary." “Fraud” means “Any act, expression, omission, or concealment calculated to deceive another to his or her disadvantage.” It’s a crime, especially where money is concerned, in any country which has a formal legal system. Therefore your observation — facetious, perhaps? — that Italians should be “given credit” for committing a crime because they might object to the alternative (seeing their government misspend public funds) isn’t a concept that I can either grasp or defend. Unless you’re assuming that it’s appropriate to justify one criminal action because other people are also doing the same, and worse. Presumably in most countries where a law exists for defining fraud, laws also exist for punishing fraud. I don’t believe there is a special exception made for citizens who take pre-emptive measures to prevent government fraud by committing private fraud. Or have I misunderstood you? As for your curiosity about other countries, you might want to have a look at the Global Corruption Barometer published by Transparency International at http://www.transparency.org. Their summary says: “Globally, respondents perceived political parties as the single most corrupt domestic institution, followed closely by the civil service. Aggregate results, however, mask important country differences. In 13 of the countries sampled, the private sector was deemed to be the most corrupt, while in 11 countries the respondents identified the judiciary.”

]]> http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/3382/worse-than-naples/comment-page-1/#comment-242 John Garrett Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:24:31 +0000 http://iamnotmakingthisup.net/?p=3382#comment-242 If "fraud" means lying about taxes, Italians should perhaps be given credit for taking direct action when they don't trust their government with money. I wonder what comparable rates are in other countries. If “fraud” means lying about taxes, Italians should perhaps be given credit for taking direct action when they don’t trust their government with money. I wonder what comparable rates are in other countries.

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