U.S.A. gets a "strong" rating in the Public Integrity Index, which tracks corruption, openness and accountability in 25 countries. This peer-reviewed country report includes a timeline covering corruption over the past one to two decades, a reporter's notebook on the culture of corruption and an assessment of the six main integrity categories. The integrity scorecard lists the full set of integrity indicators with scores, commentary and references.
The president's father earns sizable fees from a company getting millions of dollars in government defense contracts. The president's brother will get US$2 million as a business consultant to a Chinese semiconductor manufacturer even though, by his own admission, he knows nothing about semiconductors. The president's campaign manager starts a company to help corporations land lucrative wartime government contracts. The vice president's former company gets billions of dollars of government contracts with selective bidding.
It's not Indonesia, Nigeria, or Russia that boasts such an unabashed, mercenary culture in which influence peddlers so shamelessly cash in on their close proximity to power, but the United States. Ironically, such practices are entirely legal in the world's oldest constitutional democracy, which is perennially perceived in global surveys as among the world's least corrupt nations. >>
Civil society in the United States is quite vibrant. There are thousands of civil society organizations engaging in public advocacy across a wide range of issues. The barriers to starting a CSO are quite low as licenses are fairly easy and inexpensive to obtain, and the tax code relieves them of paying taxes while it encourages tax-deductible contributions. The government does not attempt to ban CSOs for non-violent advocacy or to imprison activists working on corruption issues. Similarly, activists do not risk physical harm or death for their work in this area.
Trade unions face more impediments to their activity than civil society organizations. Although the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 guarantees employees the rights to organize, collectively bargain and strike, the legislation is not adequately enforced by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). >>