What are the United States of America corruption scores?  We first go to Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, web site.  This organization has found measurements that are applied to most all countries on Earth and then given each a corruption score after their examination is completed.  They have defined corruption to be the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

The higher score number, the apparent less corruption that that country practices.  Please see their continuum scale shown below.  

Note that each country scores are not perfect because patterns of corruption are almost always hidden from the public.   Note that a score of 100 is perfect and no country has this score.  In 2020 two countries had the best scores.  The two top countries measured are New Zealand with a score of 88 in the year 2020 and Denmark also had the top score of 88 in the year 2020.

In comparison, the United States had a score of 67, in the year 2020, the most recent measurement.  Canada has a score of 77 in 2020, way less corrupt than the United States. 

Each year this organization calculates a single score for each country.  The numbers for each country typically rise or fall depending upon what Transparency International finds each country practices in that measured year.  Sometimes the score does not change.  This organization is looking for any method of corruption practiced by any portion of the county they are examining.  The corruption can be political, banking, legal system, education, social practices, etc.  Corruption, unfortunately comes in many forms and because people trying to use this scheme try to hide it as best as they can.  Thus, the corruption scores are not perfect for a number of reasons.  Some countries, typically authoritarian, try to hide much if not all of their operations.  Transparency International tries best to look deep into each countries operations.

Transparency International puts up a wonderful colored map to show us which countries are doing poorly or very good with staving off corruption.

Corruption Perception Index Map

 

 

https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2020/index/

Looking at the map a rather shocking realization appears.  The lighter colored countries have less corruption and they are mainly located in Europe, USA, Canada and Australia.  So much of the map is dark red colors revealing that much of the countries have a significant corruption problem due to a variety of factors, namely ignorance, selfishness, and religion as well as other factors.  Transparency International puts up individual stories into their web site, for each year, explaining individual significant instances of corruption that they have found.

Looking at the map one can quickly draw some rather quick observations or opinions:

• Democracies seem to have less corruption.
• Highly regimen religions like Catholicism, Islam etc seem be prone to more corruption when viewing the map.

Looking beyond the colors on the map you can examine further why there are color differences by reading some research:  Following are some examples for the color differences:

• Effectiveness of the country’s legal system. 
• Prevailing expectations and practices that govern how laws are enforced.
• The influence of religion.  “Where more ‘hierarchical religions’ — Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam — dominate, challenges to office-holders might be rarer than in cultures shaped by more egalitarian or individualistic religions, such as 4 Protestantism. Religions may also influence how individuals view their loyalties to family as opposed to other citizens.”

Let us next look at the United States scores for past year corruption figures to see if there is any revealing pattern.

• (Note: Transparency International changed their score method in 2011 and prior. years.)
• 2012 = 73 score. Obama: January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
• 2013 = 73 score. Obama: January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
• 2014 = 74 score. Obama: January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
• 2015 = 76 score. Obama: January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
• 2016 = 74 score  Obama: January 20, 2009 – January 20, 2017
• 2017 = 75 score. Trump: January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021
• 2018 = 71 score. Trump: January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021
• 2019 = 69 score. Trump: January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021
• 2020 = 67 score. Trump: January 20, 2017 – January 20, 2021
• 2021 = Not yet recorded.

Looking at the United States scores shown above, note the lower scores for the GOP president as compared to the Democrat.   Unites States most recent score of 67 is quite a drop from 2017.  Why?    

US$1 trillion in suspicious funds was laundered through US banks, exposing significant gaps in US anti-money laundering rules.

Companies paid a record-setting US$2.9 billion to resolve charges that they bribed foreign officials. 

The United States of America, expected corruption scores for the future years should go to a much lower number because the Republican Party is cheating to win the next elections and the expected result into a dictatorship form of government for the United States.

“The Brennan Center for Justice reports that “between January 1 and May 14, 2021, at least 14 states enacted 22 new laws that restrict access to the vote” and “at least 61 bills with restrictive provisions are moving through 18 state legislatures.” Those bills are designed not to avert nonexistent voter fraud but to avert another election defeat for Republicans — and they are drawing perilously close to that goal.”

 

 

 

 

Posted: August 19, 2021
Updated: August 20, 21, 2021