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GOVERNMENT CORUPTION

GOVERNMENT CORUPTION. By: Audrey Mooney . What is Government Corruption? .

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GOVERNMENT CORUPTION

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  1. GOVERNMENT CORUPTION By: Audrey Mooney

  2. What is Government Corruption? Government, or Political Corruption, can take two forms. The first you pass laws in favor of businesses or organizations that benefit you or are close to you. The second you bribe people for votes. Today this is illegal, however in Rome, was not, and was a major contribution to the downfall.

  3. Why was Rome Corrupt? Rome had a corrupt Government for multiple reasons, one being that they had no way to decide who the next emperor would be. The transition could be violent and was completely unorganized. The choice was always open to debate between the old emperor, the Senate, the Praetorian Guard (the emperors' private army), and the army. The Praetorian Guard gained complete authority to choose the new emperor, who rewarded the guard who then became more influential, perpetuating the cycle. Then in 186 A. D. the army strangled the new emperor, the practice began of selling the throne to the highest bidder. In the Republic To get elected, people are buying votes. The poor are quite happy to sell their votes to the highest bidder, under this system, many people are elected who are poor governors. Graft and corruption are rampant. How can they ensure good government for Rome?

  4. How is the USA Corrupt Today? The US is still struggling with corruption today, for example, Fluor, an engineering company which operates the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington State, also had to pay the government $4 million because several of its employees were caught making improper purchases on government credit cards. The Fluor employees who were caught also had to pay a penalty to the government. Some were even sent to jail. (http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/2107572_exfluor_employee_jailed_for_rigging_contracts_) The federal government spends $500 billion on goods, (everything from office supplies and food to tanks, ships and weapons) and services (everything from lawn mowing and laundry to highly sensitive national security analysis) from private companies. If the government does a poor job of managing and overseeing these companies, the government will not get the best value for the taxpayers and will lose billions of dollars through fraud, waste andabuse.

  5. Ways Rome Tried to prevent Corruption.. And why it didn’t work. Rome got rid of the Roman Republic because people were buying votes to be in office. They developed the Roman Empire, the first Emperor was Augustus Caesar. This did not help corruption because there was no system to decide who the next emperor would be so this is where bribes would come in, people would pay the praetorian guard to be in office, or pay an army to help them fight there way to be Emperor, once emperor they could pass laws in favor of private things involving them to get rich. Rome tried to stop the bribes by limiting the amount of money one could pay for a bribe, but this only limited the amount of money one could pay for a bribe not stop the corruption.

  6. How the USA is preventing corruption Congress has enacted criminal prohibitions on bribes, gifts, and any other kind of“salary supplementation.” There are also restrictions on governmentemployees’ ability to use their position for private gain or forprivate purposes. There are two very important laws regarding the loss oftaxpayer funds to fraud, waste and abuse. The False Claims Act allowsprivate citizens, who are called “whistleblowers,” to file lawsuits onbehalf of the federal government when they see fraud taking place ongovernment contracts or grants or in federally funded programs such asMedicare and Medicaid. Under this law, if you are caught submittingfalse claims for payment to the federal government, you can be made topay back THREE TIMES the amount you stole, plus thousands of dollarsin additional penalties. And the whistleblower who filed the suit canbe awarded a portion of the funds recovered, typically between 15 and25 percent.The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act outlaws bribery. It is illegal forAmerican companies or individuals to make payments to foreigngovernments in order to win or retain their business, and it isillegal for foreign companies and individuals to do the same in theU.S. Bribery has been a big problem among federal contractors inrecent years. If the government continues doing business with acontractor who commits bribery – even in a foreign country – itundermines our country’s ethical credibility in the eyes of the restof the world. Corruption committed abroad can quickly spread throughthe increasingly global marketplace and ultimately harm our country’seconomy and security. Goods and services obtained from contractors whoengage in bribery are also more likely to be of poorer quality.

  7. SOLUTION FOR ROME Rome always had a corrupt Government, whether it was during the Republic or the Empire. The Empire was developed to prevent corruption, but it didn’t. In the Republic people would buy their votes which is more relative to the problems we have today, during the Empire there was simply no way to decide who would be next in office, so they would battle and pay people for it, you would not always get the best leader this way. A big part in the problem of Rome's Corruption was the fact that it was so easy for the poor to except peoples money, they needed it. The slaves were taking peoples jobs for no money, today we don't have slaves so they can not take peoples jobs and contribute to the high unemployment rate, outlaw the slaves, set them free and make them get jobs and pay taxes to earn their citizenship. This will make it less easy for people to bribe the poor. Rome needed to figure out a way to determine the next Emperor, in an orderly way without any battles or corruption, today we vote and have laws that make Corruption illegal. Rome had no laws preventing Government Corruption, according to Rome, it was completely legal. Rome passed a law limiting the bribes to get into office but that did not do anything. There are two very important laws regarding the loss oftaxpayer funds to fraud, waste and abuse, The False Claims Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (explained in ways U.S. prevents corruption) Today people get thrown into federal prison if they are a corrupt leader, for example Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison, he was a former Governor of Illinois. He also had to pay a $20,000 fine in order of his Crimes. Rome needed to punish corrupt leaders if they wanted to prevent it, they had no law that stopped Government Corruption. There was no internet in Rome, or technology, they had no awareness of political corruption nor protection. Today we have websites like Pogo.org, Project on Government Oversight, helps to raise awareness and prevent Corruption, if Rome had something like Pogo, they would be a lot better off. The law will also help the leaders have a positive influence, not only will people know they can't get away with it but they will be trying to rule their best and you will always get a good leader in office to begin with. These are the steps using today's technology and solutions that you could go back in Rome and prevent Government Corruption, and stop a major part in the contribution of the downfall in Rome. 

  8. Saying no, be above the influence! Anti Corruption laws would also help…

  9. Battles in Rome fighting for power.

  10. Negative influence can effect anyone. Prevention is the key.

  11. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. (department that helped with it)

  12. What happens with corrupt leaders. (

  13. Sources cited Project on Government Oversight, February 6th 2012 http://www.pogo.org/ Blagojevich sentenced to 14 years in prison, February 7th 2012 http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/07/nation/la-na-blagojevich-20111208 Reasons why the Roman Empire fell, February 8th, 2012 < http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-empire/reason-why-the-roman-empire-fell.htm>

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