In 1977 the US enacted the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which makes it a crime for American citizens and businesses to bribe foreign public officials --- somebody needs to remind AIPAC about our laws
On Jul 10, 1:16 pm, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > State Hypocrisy on Anti-Bribery LawsJuly 10, 2011 byStephan Kinsella > In 1977 the US enacted theForeign Corrupt Practices Act(FCPA), which makes it > a crime for American citizens and businesses to bribe foreign public > officials for business purposes. It also imposes certain accounting standards > on public US companies, which I wrote about in a 1994 legal article, “The > Accounting Provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.” The hypocrisy of > the law is blinding: it’s okay for the state to bribe (and extort and coerce) > private business by means of threats, subsidies, tax breaks, and > protectionist legislation; it’s okay for businesses to bribe elected > officials (campaign contributions); and it’s okay for the US central state to > bribe foreign governments; and it’s okay for US companies to be forced to pay > bribes in the form of taxes, that are less than the amount of bribes they > would have to pay to foreign officials. But it’s not okay for US companies to > bribe foreign officials–even if this is customary and essential to “doing > business” in that country, and even if this puts American businesses at a > competitive disadvantage with companies from other countries that do not > prohibit such bribery–some countries even permit such bribes to be reported > as an expense for tax purposes. > As Lew Rockwell notes inExtortion, Private and Public: The Case of Chiquita > Banana,Paying bribes and being subject to this kind of extortion is just part > of what it takes to do business in many countries. This might sound awful, > but the truth is that such payments are often less than the companies would > be paying to the tax man in the US, which runs a similar kind of extortion > scam but with legal cover.In fact, it was theBananagatescandal (in > whichChiquita Brandshad bribed the President ofHondurasto lower taxes) which > helped to spur passage of the FCPA. > Naturally American businesses squealed at the competitive disadvantage this > law imposed on them. So of course, instead of repealing this ghastly law, the > US used its legislative imperialism to force other countries to adopt similar > laws (it also twists the arms of other countries in a number of areas, > including IP (see my postIntellectual Property Imperialism), antitrust law, > central banking policies,oil & gas ownership by the state, environmental > standards, labor standards, tax levels and policy, and so on). It did this > mainly by pushing theOECD Anti-Bribery Convention, now ratified by 38 states > which are required by the Convention to implement FCPA style laws nationally. > The UK has just done so inThe UK Bribery Act, which just came into force this > month. According to thisFreshfields release, the UK Bribery Act is “the most > far-reaching bribery legislation in the world.” The spread of such laws prove > the Whig Theory of History is wrong… -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
