The annual
href="http://www.transparency.org/news_room/in_focus/cpi_2006/cpi_table">Corruption
Perceptions Index is out, and the USA placed 20th.
Not too bad, except last year, we were 17th. At
least we did not fall as far as
href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/11/7/nation/15937303&sec=nation">Malaysia,
which slipped by 5 spots, to 44th. (I'm not picking on
Malaysia; it's just that their article came out on top in the Google
News listing of articles on the subject.)
It is difficult to know what to make of this. My main point
in posting it is to remind by compatriots that the USA is not always
#1. We're really good at spending money and blowing things
up, quite good at making things and inventing things, but we're
href="http://www.cgdev.org/section/initiatives/_active/cdi/_country/united_states/">downright
stingy when it comes to foreign aid. Most
href="http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html">health
care indices are mediocre. (37th in the world in
2000, according to the WHO.)
For what it's worth, the USA was 16th on the CPI under the previous
Administration. (Higher is better.)