alt Hacker NewsFunny how you can buy British politicians for dirt cheap. In India or the US, it would take at least $100k-200k to get a single politician's attention at the bare minimum, while in the UK you can influence party positions for 25k quid.
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I don't have enough experience about India to comment on that but in the US the amount of money it takes to influence a politician is quite low.
US politians are routinely bought for numbers similar to the UK ones.
They will often vote in a way that their constituents do not want for ~10k in campaign contributions.
They didn't have to worry about the voters finding out about it (this is changing with alternative media) beacuse the same people bought ads on the major networks.
This is an interesting observation. Why do you think it is so much lower in UK Vs US? My guess: There are much less private donations in the national UK political system.
SK presidents wife cost one Dior bag worth 2200$ USD. Not even Gucci, Chanel, or Louis Vuitton!
In India one doesn’t just bribe a politician, one hires an expensive lawyer who “handles” the case.
The real bribery starts at the bottom of the pyramid.
Say you want a water connection. The rate is set on the size of the property, and each layer in the pyramid knows exactly how many square feet were approved and what their individual percentage will be.
And again, you can’t just bribe the fellow directly: you need to go through a trusted agent who acts as a cut-out between the briber and the bribed. This started after the Lok Ayukta started conducting raids. Who says our babus aren’t flexible and innovative?