Solutions for Corruption

"Inside Job" won the Oscar for Best Documentary. It chronicles the rampant corruption and crime in Wall Street and Washington. At his acceptance speech, the director reminds us that three years after the worst financial crisis, "not a single financial executive has gone to jail".

We should:

• Push for investigation and conviction of government and corporate corruption.
  • What happened to the Liberals responsible for the $400M in the Sponsorship Scandal?
• White Collar Crime:
  • How did the biggest insider-traders in history (Andrew Rankin and Dan Duic stole $8 million) get away with no punishment?
    • Why was the proposed punishment only 6 months of jail time, when the jail time for blue-collar crime is far more? Moving an endangered bird can get you 6 months. Stealing only a few thousands dollars from a bank can get you far more than 6 months.
• Better funding for enforcement agencies, such as OSC.
• Immigration:
  • Tighten immigration from parts of the world where corruption is rampant and even ingrained in the culture.
• Increase compensation to elected officials to:
  • reduce their temptation to take bribes and kick-backs.
  • attract top talent. CEOs, who manage 40,000 employees, make many times more than government leaders who manage millions of citizens. Consequently, government positions may not attract the best talent as corporate positions do.
• Pass a law that holds political parties accountable to what they say they will do in their election campaign. Compensation should be similar to CEO compensation, which is based on achievements. Example: Political Party made 4 election promises. For the leader of the country, set base salary to be $200,000 and target compensation to be $1,000,000. For achieving each promise, the leader is paid another $200,000.