This new survey is clearly bad news for the US and it will likely be flogged by the right to fit in with their already bizarre attacks on Obama. It's hard to argue against the key areas of corruption that are polluting the US though it's also not necessarily fair to blame the administration either. Without a doubt they could have and should have done more to increase regulation but the problems listed are more leftovers from the Republican era. Either way, we need to see an improvement though with the GOP takeover around the corner, we're more likely to move in the wrong direction.
Nancy Boswell, president of TI in the United States, said lending practices in the subprime crisis, the disclosure of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme and rows over political funding had all rattled public faith about prevailing ethics in America.
"We're not talking about corruption in the sense of breaking the law," she said. "We're talking about a sense that the system is corrupted by these practices. There's an integrity deficit."
Various financial scandals at state and city level had encouraged the impression that the regulatory oversight was weak and that influence could be bought, she added.
